The hematologic inflammatory index is a new prognostic marker in patients resected for gastric cancer

The role of the systemic inflammatory response in cancer has been shown in many studies. The present study aims to investigate the prognostic significance of a new hematologic index obtained by the combination of platelet, neutrophil, and lymphocyte counts in patients undergoing curative gastrectomy for gastric cancer.

We retrospectively analyzed 95 consecutive patients who underwent curative gastrectomy for gastric cancer between January 2013 and December 2018. Receiver operating characteristics curve analysis was used to determine the optimal cutoff values for hematologic inflammatory index (HII). The optimal cutoff value for HII was 2.69. Baseline parameters categorized into two groups were compared with the Chi-square test. Variables were evaluated by the univariate analysis were further assessed by the multivariate analysis using Cox's proportional-hazards regression model.

According to HII, 44 patients (46.3%) had values lower than 2.69 and 51 patients (53.7%) had values higher than 2.69. HII was significantly correlated with depth of tumor invasion (P = 0.009), tumor histologic type (P = 0.048), and need for adjuvant therapy (P = 0.04). Median disease-free survival (DFS) (P = 0.003, hazard ratio (HR), 0.423; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.234-0.762) and median overall survival (OS) (P = 0.002, HR, 0.385; 95% CI, 0.207-0.716) were found to be significantly shorter in the patient group where HII was higher than 2.69 compared to the patient group whose HII was lower than 2.69. When the multivariate analysis was performed, both DFS (P = 0.025, HR, 0.484; 95% CI, 0.257-0.912) and OS (P = 0.04, HR, 0.497; 95% CI, 0.255-0.970) were found to be independent prognostic factors.

In this retrospective study, HII is independently associated with both DFS and OS in gastric cancer. HII is an inexpensive, powerful, and easily accessible prognostic marker.