Since increasing evidence underlines the prominent role of systemic inflammation in carcinogenesis, the inflammation burden index (IBI) has emerged as a promising biomarker to estimate survival outcomes among cancer patients. The IBI has only been validated in Eastern gastric cancer (GC) patients; therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the IBI as a prognostic biomarker in Central European GC patients undergoing multimodal treatment. Ninety-three patients with histologically confirmed GC who underwent multimodal treatment between 2013 and 2021 were included. Patient recruitment started with the standardization of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC). Blood samples were obtained one day prior to surgical treatment. The textbook outcome (TO) served as the measure of surgical quality, and tumor responses to NAC were evaluated according to Becker's system tumor regression grade (TRG). A high IBI was associated with an increased risk of postoperative complications (OR 2.95, 95% CI 1.13-7.72). In multivariate analysis, a high IBI (HR = 2.56, 95% CI 1.28-5.13) and a high neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR, HR = 2.55, 95% CI 1.32-4.94) were associated with an increased risk of death, while NAC administration (HR = 0.40, 95% CI 0.18-0.90) and TO achievement (HR = 0.42, 95% CI 0.22-0.81) were associated with a lower risk of death. The IBI was associated with postoperative complications and mortality among GC patients undergoing multimodal treatment.
Keywords: gastric cancer; inflammatory burden index; multimodal treatment; neoadjuvant chemotherapy; prognostic biomarkers.