Clinical implications of C-reactive protein-albumin-lymphocyte (CALLY) index in patients with esophageal cancer

Abstract

Purpose: The C-reactive protein-albumin-lymphocyte (CALLY) index is a novel inflammatory nutritional biomarker. This study aimed to investigate the potential clinical significance and oncological prognostic role of the preoperative CALLY index in patients with esophageal cancer.

Methods: We analyzed the preoperative CALLY index in 146 patients with esophageal cancer. The CALLY index and clinicopathological variables were analyzed by the Mann-Whitney U test, and associations between the CALLY index and survival outcomes were analyzed by Kaplan-Meier analysis and log-rank tests. Univariate and multivariate analyses of prognostic variables were conducted using Cox proportional hazards regression.

Results: A lower preoperative CALLY index was significantly correlated with patient age, advanced T stage, presence of lymph node metastasis, neoadjuvant therapy, lymphatic invasion, and advanced stage classification. The preoperative CALLY index decreased significantly in a stage-dependent manner. Patients with esophageal cancer with a low CALLY index had poorer overall survival, disease-free survival than those with a high CALLY index. Multivariate analysis showed that a low CALLY index was an independent prognostic factor for overall survival, disease-free survival and an independent predictor of postoperative surgical site infection.

Conclusions: Preoperative CALLY index is a useful marker to guide the perioperative and postoperative management of patients with esophageal cancer.

Keywords: CRP–albumin–lymphocyte index; Esophageal cancer; Prognosis; Surgical site infection.