The role of inflammation-related markers in patients with elderly hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is not well known. This study aimed to evaluate and compare the prognostic value of various inflammation-related markers in elderly HCC patients after radical resection.350 elderly HCC patients after radical resection were included. Survival rate and prognostic analysis were using Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analysis. The prognostic value of inflammation-related markers was compared by C-index and time-dependent receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). Propensity score matching (PSM) was used for patient selection to minimize bias. The C-index and time-dependent AUC showed that PNI was higher than the other inflammation-related markers. After PSM, the 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year overall survival rates in the low prognostic nutritional index (PNI) and high PNI groups were 83.3%, 69.5%, 51.5%, and 95.0%, 87.8%, 71.3% (p = 0.047), respectively. The 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year recurrence-free survival rates in the two groups were 63.3%, 47.8%, 24.5%, and 86.7%, 76.3%, 57.1% (p < 0.001), respectively. Multivariate Cox regression revealed that PNI was the independent risk factor associated with death (p = 0.016, HR = 0.552) and tumor recurrence (p = 0.001, HR = 0.432). PNI was a better inflammation-based prognostic marker in elderly HCC patients after radical resection. This simple marker could help physicians determine elder HCC patients at high risk of tumor recurrence for frequent clinical surveillance.
Wu et al. (Wed,) studied this question.
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