Abstract
Despite the fact that malignancies are associated with hematological abnormalities, some clinical studies have been unable to detect such a relation. The aim of our study was to detect the prevalence of pretreatment hematologic abnormalities in patients with common solid tumors and to determine if such a profile could be used for prognostic evaluations. We identified all patients in Cancer Center of Sun Yat-sen University who were diagnosed as solid tumors (breast carcinoma, hepatocellular carcinoma, nasopharyngeal carcinoma, esophageal carcinoma, gastric cancer, cervical carcinoma, endometrial cancer, renal cell carcinoma, and non-small cell lung cancer) between January 2000 and August 2009. All subjects were investigated regarding levels of white blood cells, platelets, and hemoglobin concentration. We identified 3,180 patients with solid tumors and 285 patients with benign diseases for the final analysis. The percentages of leukocytosis, anemia, and thrombocytosis in patients with solid tumors ranged from 4.0% to 25.6%, 3.3% to 29.2%, and 2.1% to 9.7%, respectively. The multivariate Cox analysis revealed that anemia was an independent prognostic factor in patients with breast cancer (P = 0.006), hepatocellular carcinoma (P = 0.002), nasopharyngeal carcinoma (P = 0.008), and esophageal carcinoma (P = 0.001). Leukocytosis was an independent prognostic factor in patients with cervical cancer (P = 0.007). The incidence of hematological abnormalities in Chinese patients with solid tumors was relatively lower than that of the counterparts in the Western countries. A pretreatment anemia or leukocytosis can serve as a useful marker to predict outcome of patients in some of the solid tumors.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Tranum BL, Haut A. Thrombocytosis: platelet kinetics in neoplasia. J Lab Clin Med. 1974;84:615–9.
Li AJ, Madden AC, Cass I, Leuchter RS, Lagasse LD, Karlan BY. The prognostic significance of thrombocytosis in epithelial ovarian carcinoma. Gynecol Oncol. 2004;92:211–4.
Lerner DL, Walsh CS, Cass I, Karlan BY, Li AJ. The prognostic significance of thrombocytosis in uterine papillary serous carcinomas. Gynecol Oncol. 2007;104:91–4.
Gungor T, Kanat-Pektas M, Sucak A, Mollamahmutoglu L. The role of thrombocytosis in prognostic evaluation of epithelial ovarian tumors. Arch Gynecol Obstet. 2009;279:53–6.
Pedersen LM, Milman N. Diagnostic significance of platelet count and other blood analyses in patients with lung cancer. Oncol Rep. 2003;10:213–6.
Tomita M, Shimizu T, Hara M, Ayabe T, Onitsuka T. Prognostic impact of thrombocytosis in resectable non-small cell lung cancer. Interact Cardiovasc Thorac Surg. 2008;7:613–5.
Gislason T, Nou E. Sedimentation rate, leucocytes, platelet count and haemoglobin in bronchial carcinoma: an epidemiological study. Eur J Respir Dis. 1985;66:141–6.
Erdemir F, Kilciler M, Bedir S, Ozgok Y, Coban H, Erten K. Clinical significance of platelet count in patients with renal cell carcinoma. Urol Int. 2007;79:111–6.
Symbas NP, Townsend MF, El-Galley R, Keane TE, Graham SD, Petros JA. Poor prognosis associated with thrombocytosis in patients with renal cell carcinoma. BJU Int. 2000;86:203–7.
Pedersen LM, Milman N. Prognostic significance of thrombocytosis in patients with primary lung cancer. Eur Respir J. 1996;9:1826–30.
Costantini V, Zacharski LR, Moritz TE, Edwards RL. The platelet count in carcinoma of the lung and colon. Thromb Haemost. 1990;64:501–5.
Ikeda M, Furukawa H, Imamura H, Shimizu J, Ishida H, Masutani S, et al. Poor prognosis associated with thrombocytosis in patients with gastric cancer. Ann Surg Oncol. 2002;9:287–91.
Monreal M, Fernandez-Llamazares J, Pinol M, Julian JF, Broggi M, Escola D, et al. Platelet count and survival in patients with colorectal cancer—a preliminary study. Thromb Haemost. 1998;79:916–8.
Shimada H, Oohira G, Okazumi S, Matsubara H, Nabeya Y, Hayashi H, et al. Thrombocytosis associated with poor prognosis in patients with esophageal carcinoma. J Am Coll Surg. 2004;198:737–41.
Chen CC, Yang CF, Yang MH, Lee KD, Kwang WK, You JY, et al. Pretreatment prognostic factors and treatment outcome in elderly patients with de novo acute myeloid leukemia. Ann Oncol. 2005;16:1366–73.
Suzuki K, Aiura K, Kitagou M, Hoshimoto S, Takahashi S, Ueda M, et al. Platelets counts closely correlate with the disease-free survival interval of pancreatic cancer patients. Hepatogastroenterology. 2004;51:847–53.
Brockmann MA, Giese A, Mueller K, Kaba FJ, Lohr F, Weiss C, et al. Preoperative thrombocytosis predicts poor survival in patients with glioblastoma. Neuro Oncol. 2007;9:335–42.
Gogus C, Baltaci S, Filiz E, Elhan A, Beduk Y. Significance of thrombocytosis for determining prognosis in patients with localized renal cell carcinoma. Urology. 2004;63:447–50.
Lu CC, Chang KW, Chou FC, Cheng CY, Liu CJ. Association of pretreatment thrombocytosis with disease progression and survival in oral squamous cell carcinoma. Oral Oncol. 2007;43:283–8.
Taucher S, Salat A, Gnant M, Kwasny W, Mlineritsch B, Menzel RC, et al. Impact of pretreatment thrombocytosis on survival in primary breast cancer. Thromb Haemost. 2003;89:1098–106.
Hefler L, Mayerhofer K, Leibman B, Obermair A, Reinthaller A, Kainz C, et al. Tumor anemia and thrombocytosis in patients with vulvar cancer. Tumour Biol. 2000;21:309–14.
Metindir J, Bilir DG. Preoperative hemoglobin and platelet count and poor prognostic factors in patients with endometrial carcinoma. J Cancer Res Clin Oncol. 2009;135:125–9.
Qiu MZ, Yuan ZY, Luo HY, Ruan DY, Wang ZQ, Wang FH, et al. Impact of pretreatment hematologic profile on survival of colorectal cancer patients. Tumour Biol. 2010;31:255–60.
Chen MH, Chang PM, Chen PM, Tzeng CH, Chu PY, Chang SY, et al. Prognostic significance of a pretreatment hematologic profile in patients with head and neck cancer. J Cancer Res Clin Oncol. 2009;135:1783–90.
Dowlati A, R'Zik S, Fillet G, Beguin Y. Anaemia of lung cancer is due to impaired erythroid marrow response to erythropoietin stimulation as well as relative inadequacy of erythropoietin production. Br J Haematol. 1997;97:297–9.
Spivak JL. Cancer-related anemia: its causes and characteristics. Semin Oncol. 1994;21:3–8.
DeRienzo DP, Saleem A. Anemia of chronic disease: a review of pathogenesis. Tex Med. 1990;86:80–3.
Moliterno AR, Spivak JL. Anemia of cancer. Hematol Oncol Clin North Am. 1996;10:345–63.
Kasuga I, Makino S, Kiyokawa H, Katoh H, Ebihara Y, Ohyashiki K. Tumor-related leukocytosis is linked with poor prognosis in patients with lung carcinoma. Cancer. 2001;92:2399–405.
Mroczko B, Groblewska M, Wereszczynska-Siemiatkowska U, Okulczyk B, Kedra B, Laszewicz W, et al. Serum macrophage-colony stimulating factor levels in colorectal cancer patients correlate with lymph node metastasis and poor prognosis. Clin Chim Acta. 2007;380:208–12.
Caro JJ, Salas M, Ward A, Goss G. Anemia as an independent prognostic factor for survival in patients with cancer: a systemic, quantitative review. Cancer. 2001;91:2214–21.
Dunst J, Kuhnt T, Strauss HG, Krause U, Pelz T, Koelbl H, et al. Anemia in cervical cancers: impact on survival, patterns of relapse, and association with hypoxia and angiogenesis. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2003;56:778–87.
Baghi M, Wagenblast J, Hambek M, Moertel S, Gstoettner W, Strebhardt K, et al. Pre-treatment haemoglobin level predicts response and survival after tpf induction polychemotherapy in advanced head and neck cancer patients. Clin Otolaryngol. 2008;33:245–51.
Rades D, Schild SE, Bahrehmand R, Zschenker O, Alberti WA, Rudat VR. Prognostic factors in the nonsurgical treatment of esophageal carcinoma with radiotherapy or radiochemotherapy: the importance of pretreatment hemoglobin levels. Cancer. 2005;103:1740–6.
Yang MH, Wu MZ, Chiou SH, Chen PM, Chang SY, Liu CJ, et al. Direct regulation of twist by hif-1alpha promotes metastasis. Nat Cell Biol. 2008;10:295–305.
Acknowledgments
This work was funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China grant 30672408, Guangzhou Bureau of Science and Technology grant 2006Z3-E0041, and Sun Yat-sen University 985 Program Initiation Fund (China). We thank Professor Qing Liu in the Epidemiology Department for his suggestion in the statistical analysis. Besides, we thank the staff members in the Department of Medical Oncology, NPC Oncology, Gastric Surgery Oncology, Thoracic Surgery Oncology, Hepatocellular Surgery Oncology, and Gynecology Oncology at Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center for their assistance.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Qiu, Mz., Xu, Rh., Ruan, Dy. et al. Incidence of anemia, leukocytosis, and thrombocytosis in patients with solid tumors in China. Tumor Biol. 31, 633–641 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13277-010-0079-8
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13277-010-0079-8