Purpose: Blood analytes are easily used in routine clinical practice. Tumor markers (TMs) are useful in diagnosing, treating, and predicting prognosis of gastric cancer (GC). The prognostic nutritional index (PNI) was also recently found to be useful in predicting GC prognosis.
Methods: The PNI and serum levels of CEA and CA19-9 of 453 patients with GC were measured to examine correlations between those levels and patients' prognoses.
Results: Of the 453 patients, 84 (18.5%) were positive for CEA and/or CA19-9 and therefore considered positive for TMs. Prognosis of patients who were TM+ was significantly worse than for those who were TM-. Mean PNI was 48.2 (range 27.7-63.6). ROC analysis indicated that 46.7 was the optimal PNI cutoff value. Prognosis of patients in the PNILow group (<46.7) was significantly worse than in the PNIHigh group (≥46.7). Prognosis of patients who were both TM+ and PNILow was significantly worse than that of patients who were either TM+ or PNILow and those who were both TM- and PNIHigh. Multivariate analysis indicated that combination of TM and PNI was an independent prognostic indicator.
Conclusions: The combination of TM and PNI offers accurate information about a patient's prognosis.
Keywords: Gastric cancer; PNI; Prognosis; Tumor marker.