Associations between lifestyles and neutrophil-lymphocyte and platelet-lymphocyte ratios in colorectal cancer.

AIMS: To explore the etiology of the neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) abnormalities in colorectal cancer. METHODS: In total, 230 patients with histopathologically confirmed colorectal cancer from August 2009 to August 2011 were recruited to our study. The associations between lifestyles (smoking, alcohol and pickled food consumption) and pretreatment NLR and PLR were estimated using the Kruskal-Wallis tests and linear regression model. RESULTS: The Kruskal-Wallis test showed a significant association between pickled food intake and pretreatment NLR but not PLR (P = 0.002, 0.057, respectively). Pairwise comparisons showed that, compared with those with a moderately frequent (2-3 times/week) and an infrequent (≤ once a week) intake of pickled food, high frequency (≥ four times/week) consumption of pickled food had a higher pretreatment NLR (P = 0.01, 0.007, respectively). Multivariate linear regression analysis showed pretreatment NLR increased significantly in high frequency (≥ four times/week) consumption of pickled food (P < 0.0001). No association between other lifestyle factors and pretreatment PLR was found. CONCLUSIONS: A higher frequency intake of pickled food possibly contributes to higher NLR, which may reflect a systemic inflammatory response in colorectal cancer.

[Metastatic lymph node ratio and outcome of surgical patients with stage III colorectal cancer].

OBJECTIVE: Evaluate the prognostic value of lymph node ratio (LNR) in patients undergoing resection of stage III colorectal cancer. METHODS: The clinicopathological and follow-up data were collected from 174 surgical patients with stage III colorectal cancer. The 5-year disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) were evaluated using Kaplan-Meier method. The impact of LNR and clinicopathological factors on DFS and OS were evaluated using univariate and multivariate analysis. RESULTS: After a median follow-up of 62.5 months, the 5-year DFS and OS of the patients were 51.8% and 56.3%, respectively. The median number of lymph nodes harvested and the median number of positive lymph nodes examined were 10 and 3, respectively. The patients were stratified into 4 groups according to LNR quartiles (LNR1, LNR≤0.125; LNR2, 0.1250.500), whose 5-year DFS and OS were 64.2%, 53.5%, 41.8%, and 25.7% (P<0.05) and 68.1%, 60.8%, 49.2%, and 32.7% (P<0.05), respectively. Multivariate analysis identified age, T stage and LNR as the independent predictors of both DFS and OS. Subgroup analysis showed that LNR had an independent prognostic value on DFS and OS irrespective of the number of lymph nodes harvested. CONCLUSION: LNR is an independent prognostic factor for survival in patients with stage III colorectal cancer and is superior to the pN category in TNM staging.

[Clinicopathological features and prognosis of colorectal cancer patients with preoperative cancer-related anemia].

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the clinicopathological features and prognosis of colorectal cancer patients with preoperative cancer-related anemia. METHODS: Clinical data of 354 patients with colorectal cancer in the Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical College from January 2003 to July 2009 were analyzed retrospectively. Those with hemoglobin(Hb)<120 g/L before surgery were defined as cancer-related anemia. RESULTS: Of the 354 colorectal cancer cases, 195 were males and 159 were females. The median age was 65(range 22-92) years. Preoperative cancer-related anemia tended to be occurred in female(P<0.01) and those with preoperative albumin ≤35 g/L (P<0.01), right colon cancer(P<0.01) and full-thickness invasion(P<0.05). Cox regression analysis showed preoperative cancer-related anemia was an independent unfavorable factor for overall survival (HR=1.60, 95% CI:1.05-2.44; P<0.05), but not for disease-free survival (HR=1.43, 95% CI:0.97-2.12; P>0.05) in colorectal cancer. CONCLUSIONS: Preoperative cancer-related anemia plays an important role in the development and prognosis of colorectal cancer and great attention should be paid to clinical practice.