Related Experiment Video
Updated: Nov 28, 2025
Competing-Risk Nomogram for Predicting Cancer-Specific Survival in Multiple Primary Colorectal Cancer Patients after Surgery
Published on: September 27, 2024
The Elevation in Preoperative Procalcitonin Is Associated with a Poor Prognosis for Patients Undergoing Resection for
Toru Miyake1, Hiroya Iida1, Tomoharu Shimizu2
1Department of Surgery, Shiga University of Medical Science, Shiga, Japan.
Background:
Procalcitonin (PCT) is a well-known marker for bacterial infection; however, the clinical significance of PCT in the long-term prognosis after colorectal cancer (CRC) surgery remains unclear.
Methods:
This is a retrospective review of 277 patients that underwent CRC surgery to investigate the relationship between preoperative PCT, clinicopathological condition, cancer-specific overall survival (OS), and relapse-free survival (RFS).
Results:
Median follow-up interval was 5.0 years in all patients. Thirty-six patients developed recurrence, and 46 patients died due to recurrences or metastases of CRC. Preoperative PCT levels were highest in Stage IV patients. The cancer-specific OS in patients with Stage IV/PCT ≤0.05 ng/mL was significantly higher than those with Stage IV/PCT >0.05 ng/mL (3 years survival; 42.3 vs. 14.3%, p = 0.0413). On multivariate analysis, gender, TNM classification, and PCT were identified as significant risk factors for cancer-specific OS in patients with Stage I-III CRC. The cancer-specific OS rate of these patients with PCT ≥0.08 ng/mL, compared with PCT <0.08 ng/mL, was significantly decreased (5 years survival; 59.1 vs. 92.7%, p < 0.0001). TNM classification was finally identified as an independent risk factor for cancer-specific RFS in these patients by multivariate analysis.
Conclusion:
High preoperative PCT values in CRC patients appeared to be associated with poor OS but not RFS following surgical treatments.
