KEY TAKEAWAYS
- The study aimed to investigate the prognostic significance of the PNI in patients with metastatic CRC.
- Researchers noticed that PNI serves as an effective prognostic marker for metastatic CRC due to its simplicity and cost-effectiveness.
A low Prognostic Nutritional Index (PNI) value, which reflects immune nutrition and inflammation around the tumor, is associated with an unfavorable prognosis.
Merve Keskinkilic and the team aimed to assess the prognostic significance of the PNI in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC).
They performed an inclusive analysis in a retrospective cross-sectional study, including patients diagnosed with metastatic colorectal disease without active infection between January 2010 and December 2016. The PNI values at the time of diagnosis were calculated using the formula: (10 × serum albumin (g/dL)) + (0.005 × total lymphocyte count). This methodology aimed to evaluate the prognostic significance of PNI in the selected patient cohort.
About 253 patients were included in the study, with a mean PNI value of 46.6. While 53.75% (n = 136) of the patients had a PNI value of 46.6 and above, 46.25% (n = 117) had a PNI value below 46.6. The overall survival (OS) of the group with a PNI of 46.6 and above was statistically significantly longer (53.06 months vs. 38.80 months, P = 0.039). The PFS duration of the group with a PNI below 46.6 was 25.66 months, while the PFS duration of the group with a PNI above 46.6 was not reached (P = 0.265).
The study concluded that PNI is a simple and inexpensive index that effectively evaluates the immunonutritional status of patients. It serves as a valuable prognostic marker for patients with metastatic CRC, similar to its use in other cancer types.
The study received open-access funding from the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye.
Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38777931/
Keskinkilic M, Semiz HS, Ataca E, et al. (2024). “The prognostic value of immune-nutritional status in metastatic colorectal cancer: Prognostic Nutritional Index (PNI).” Support Care Cancer. 2024 May 23;32(6):374. doi: 10.1007/s00520-024-08572-6. PMID: 38777931.
