Evaluation of an inflammation-based prognostic score for the identification of patients requiring postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy for stage II colorectal cancer

Recent studies have revealed the Glasgow prognostic score (GPS) to aid in the prediction of postoperative outcome in colorectal cancer patients. However, whether GPS predicts poor prognosis in curative colorectal cancer patients has yet to be ascertained. Furthermore, there is no information on the association between GPS and adjuvant chemotherapy in stage II or III colorectal cancer patients. A total of 219 patients with stage II and III colorectal cancer were included in this trial. The modified GPS (mGPS) defined in this study was calculated on the basis of admission data as follows: patients with an elevated level of both C-reactive protein (0.5 mg/dl) and hypoalbuminemia (Alb <3.5 mg/dl) were allocated a score of 2, and patients showing I or none of these blood chemistry abnormalities were allocated a score of 1 or 0, respectively. The association between the mGPS and clinicopathological findings and survival was retrospectively assessed. The mGPS was significantly higher in patients with an advanced age, serosal invasion, advanced stage cancer and pre-operative high CEA levels. Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed that a higher GPS predicted a higher risk of postoperative mortality in stage II and/or III colorectal cancer patients. Multivariate analyses revealed that the mGPS was the most sensitive predictor of postoperative mortality in stage II/III or stage II, respectively. The prognosis of stage II patients with a higher mGPS was as favorable as that of patients with a lower mGPS when adjuvant chemotherapy was undertaken. Pre-operative mGPS is considered to be a useful predictor of postoperative mortality in patients with stage II and/or Ill colorectal cancer, independently of the CEA test or TNM system. Postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy may be recommended for stage II colorectal cancer patients with a high mGPS.