Introduction: The importance of a nutrition scoring system, including the geriatric nutritional risk index (GNRI), was reported as an objective tool widely used to assess nutritional status in patients with inflammatory disease, chronic heart failure, and chronic liver disease. However, studies on the relationship between GNRI and the prognosis in patients who have undergone initial hepatectomy have been limited. Thus, we conducted a multi-institutional cohort study to clarify the relationship between GNRI and long-term outcomes for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients after such a procedure.
Methods: Data from 1,494 patients who underwent initial hepatectomy for HCC between 2009 and 2018 was retrospectively collected from a multi-institutional database. The patients were divided into two groups according to GNRI grade (cutoff: 92), and their clinicopathological characteristics and long-term results were compared.
Results: Of the 1,494 patients, the low-risk group (≥ 92; N = 1,270) was defined as having a normal nutritional status. Meanwhile, low GNRI (< 92; N = 224) were divided into malnutrition as the high-risk group. Multivariate analysis identified seven prognostic factors of poor overall survival (higher tumor markers; α-fetoprotein (AFP) and des-γ-carboxy protein [DCP], higher ICG-R15 levels, larger tumor size, multiple tumors, vascular invasion, and lower GNRI and eight prognostic factors of high recurrence (HCV antibody positive, higher ICG-R15 levels, higher tumor markers such as AFP and DCP, greater bleeding, multiple tumors, vascular invasion, and lower GNRI).
Conclusions: In patients with HCC, preoperative GNRI predicts poorer overall survival and high recurrence.
Keywords: Geriatric nutritional risk index; HCC; Liver resection; Nutrition; Prognosis.
© 2023. The Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract.