Preoperative nutritional index may predict postoperative outcome in elderly with CRC

Onodera's prognostic nutritional index (PNI) indicates the patient's nutritional and immunological status and is used to predict the risk of several kinds of complications after surgery. A study published in the Indian Journal of Surgery suggests, Preoperative Prognostic Nutritional Index (PNI) < 45 in patients aged ≥ 85 years with Colorectal Cancer (CRC) is both predictive and prognostic for short- and long-term outcomes.

Incidence of CRC has increased in recent years; CRC is the third most common cause of cancer-related death worldwide. Despite improved treatments, CRC recurrences arise at a steady rate. Long-term survival and local recurrence in CRC patients are affected by postoperative complications (PCs). Therefore it is important to identifying predictors for PCs from preoperative data to improve patients overall quality of life especially in elders. Prognostic nutritional index (PNI) is calculated from serum albumin concentration and peripheral blood lymphocyte (PBL) count and is used to predict the risk of several kinds of complications after surgery. They have also been proposed to be causally related to overall survival (OS) in some cancers. However, there are only a few reports available addressing the relationship between preoperative PNI and PCs in very elderly (≥ 85 years old) patients with CRC. For this purpose, researchers of Kawasaki Medical School, Japan conducted a study to assess the PNI as a predictor of postoperative outcome in elderly patients over 85 years old with colorectal cancer.