The preoperative plasma fibrinogen level is an independent prognostic factor for overall survival of breast cancer patients who underwent surgical treatment

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have suggested that plasma fibrinogen contributes to tumor cell proliferation, progression and metastasis. The current study was performed to evaluate the prognostic relevance of preoperative plasma fibrinogen in breast cancer patients. METHOD: Data of 2073 consecutive breast cancer patients, who underwent surgery between January 2002 and December 2008 at the Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, were retrospectively evaluated. Plasma fibrinogen levels were routinely measured before surgeries. Participants were grouped by the cutoff value estimated by the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Overall survival (OS) was assessed using Kaplan-Meier analysis, and multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression model was performed to evaluate the independent prognostic value of plasma fibrinogen level. RESULTS: The optimal cutoff value of preoperative plasma fibrinogen was determined to be 2.83 g/L. The Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that patients with high fibrinogen levels had shorter OS than patients with low fibrinogen levels (p < 0.001). Multivariate analysis suggested preoperative plasma fibrinogen as an independent prognostic factor for OS in breast cancer patients (HR = 1.475, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.177-1.848, p = 0.001). Subgroup analyses revealed that plasma fibrinogen level was an unfavorable prognostic parameter in stage II-III, Luminal subtypes and triple-negative breast cancer patients. CONCLUSION: Elevated preoperative plasma fibrinogen was independently associated with poor prognosis in breast cancer patients and may serve as a valuable parameter for risk assessment in breast cancer patients.