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Prognostic significance of the preoperative serum C-reactive protein level in patients with stage IV colorectal cancer

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Abstract

Purpose

Previous studies have revealed that an elevated preoperative serum C-reactive protein (CRP) level is associated with a poor prognosis in patients with various malignant tumors. The aim of this study was to determine the clinical significance of the preoperative serum CRP level in patients with stage IV colorectal cancer.

Methods

We enrolled 144 patients who underwent surgery for stage IV colorectal cancer. A total of 53 patients with a serum CRP level of ≥1.0 mg/dl were classified as the high CRP individuals. The association between the preoperative serum CRP level and survival was retrospectively assessed.

Results

The cancer-specific survival of the patients with a high CRP level was significantly worse than that of the patients with a low CRP level. A multivariate analysis indicated that the curability (non-curative surgery), the number of organs with metastasis (more than one organ), the tumor diameter (≥5 cm), lymphatic involvement, histological differentiation (non-differentiated) and a high CRP level (≥1.0 mg/dl) were independent risk factors for a poor survival.

Conclusions

A high preoperative serum CRP level is a convenient biomarker for identifying patients with a poor prognosis for stage IV colorectal cancer.

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Conflict of interest

None declared.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgical Oncology, Osaka City University Graduate School of Medicine, 1-4-3 Asahi-machi Abeno-Ku, Osaka, Osaka, 545-8585, Japan

    Masatsune Shibutani, Kiyoshi Maeda, Hisashi Nagahara, Eiji Noda, Hiroshi Ohtani & Kosei Hirakawa

  2. Division of Digestive Surgery, Osaka Municipal General Medical Center, Miyakojima-ku, Osaka, Japan

    Yukio Nishiguchi

Authors
  1. Masatsune Shibutani
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  2. Kiyoshi Maeda
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  3. Hisashi Nagahara
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  4. Eiji Noda
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  5. Hiroshi Ohtani
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  6. Yukio Nishiguchi
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  7. Kosei Hirakawa
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Correspondence to Masatsune Shibutani.

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Shibutani, M., Maeda, K., Nagahara, H. et al. Prognostic significance of the preoperative serum C-reactive protein level in patients with stage IV colorectal cancer. Surg Today 45, 315–321 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00595-014-0909-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00595-014-0909-1

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