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Clinical implications of the preoperative lymphocyte C-reactive protein ratio in esophageal cancer patients

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Abstract

Purpose

We recently revealed the preoperative lymphocyte C-reactive protein ratio (LCR) to be a new marker for predicting various outcomes in malignancies. The aim of our present study was to clarify the potential utility of the preoperative LCR for predicting the perioperative risk and oncological outcome in esophageal cancer patients.

Methods

We analyzed the preoperative LCR from 153 esophageal cancer patients to clarify its clinical relevance.

Results

The preoperative LCR was significantly decreased in a stage-dependent manner, and a decreased preoperative LCR was significantly associated with the occurrence of postoperative surgical site infection. Esophageal cancer patients with a low LCR showed a poor outcome in both the overall survival and disease-free survival compared with those who had a high LCR. Multivariate analyses showed that a decreased LCR was an independent prognostic factor for both a poor overall survival and disease-free survival. A decreased preoperative LCR was an independent predictive factor for postoperative surgical site infection and significantly correlated with nutritional and inflammatory indicators. In addition, the LCR was useful for identifying esophageal cancer patients likely to have a poor outcome among patients with and without neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

Conclusions

Assessing the preoperative LCR might help physicians identify populations at high risk for perioperative complication and oncological outcomes, and determine individualized perioperative therapeutic strategies.

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Acknowledgements

Yuji Toiyama had full access to all of the data in the study, and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis. We thank RJ Frampton from Edanz Group (www.edanzediting.com/ac) for editing a draft of this manuscript.

Funding

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Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

Conception and design (AY, YT, and YO); acquisition of data and the analysis and interpretation of data (AY, YT, YO, TI, HI, HY, HF, YO, TY, and MO); drafting the work critically for important intellectual content (AY, YT, and YO); final approval of the version to be published (AY, YT, YO, and MO); agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work (AY, YT, YO, TI, HI, HY, HF, YO, TY, and MO).

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Correspondence to Yuji Toiyama.

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Yamamoto, A., Toiyama, Y., Okugawa, Y. et al. Clinical implications of the preoperative lymphocyte C-reactive protein ratio in esophageal cancer patients. Surg Today 51, 745–755 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00595-020-02166-5

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