Prognostic Significance of Pre- and Post-operative Red-Cell Distribution Width in Patients with Gastric Cancer.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: High red cell distribution width (RDW) is reportedly provoked by chronic inflammation and poor nutritional status; high pre-operative RDW is related to poor prognosis in some cancers. However, the prognostic significance of post-operative RDW in gastric cancer (GC) patients is unclear. METHODS: We enrolled 221 patients who had undergone curative surgery for histopathologically diagnosed gastric adenocarcinoma. RESULTS: Optimal cutoff values were determined by ROC analysis to be 14.85 (pre-operative) and 14.05 (post-operative). We accordingly divided patients into the high (pre-RDWHigh; ≥ 14.85) and low (pre-RDWLow; < 14.85) pre-operative RDW groups, and the high (post-RDWHigh; ≥ 14.05) and low (post-RDWLow; < 14.05) post-operative RDW subgroups. Five-year overall survival (OS) rates differed significantly in pre-RDWHigh group (52.4%) and pre-RDWLow group (78.0%; P < 0.0001). Five-year OS rates also differed significantly in post-RDWHigh (52.7%) and post-RDWLow subgroups (88.3%; P < 0.0001). Multivariate analysis showed post-operative RDW, but not pre-operative RDW, to be an independent prognostic indicator for OS. CONCLUSIONS: Post-operative RDW may be a useful prognostic indicator in GC patients.