Background: Thrombocytosis develops in association with malignant tumors and may reflect the inflammation status in cancer patients. This study retrospectively investigated the prognostic significance of two platelet-based inflammatory indicators, the platelet × C-reactive protein multiplier value (P-CRP), and platelet-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), in gastric cancer patients.
Methods: The 453 enrolled patients had a histopathological diagnosis of gastric adenocarcinoma and underwent curative surgery.
Results: P-CRP correlated significantly with age, tumor size, depth of invasion, lymph node metastasis, and disease stage. A high PLR correlated significantly with tumor size, depth of invasion, lymph node metastasis, lymphatic involvement, venous involvement, and disease stage. In the ROC analysis, the optimal cutoff value of P-CRP and PLR was 3.689 and 173.3, respectively. Five-year survival rates were 62.9 and 82.1% in patients with P-CRPHigh (≥3.689) and P-CRPLow (<3.698), respectively (P < 0.0001). Five-year survival rates were 66.3 and 81.3% in patients with PLRHigh (≥173.3) and PLRLow (<173.3), respectively (P = 0.0022). The prognosis of the P-CRPHigh/PLRHigh group was significantly worse than that of the P-CRPHigh or PLRHigh and P-CRPLow/PLRLow groups in terms of overall survival (P < 0.0001) and disease-specific survival (P = 0.029). In a multivariate analysis, the combination of P-CRP and PLR was an independent prognostic indicator.
Conclusions: The combination of P-CRP and PLR may be useful in predicting prognosis in gastric cancer patients.