Prognostic significance of the preoperative lymphocyte to C-reactive protein ratio in patients with stage III colorectal cancer

Association of lymphocyte-to-C-reactive protein ratio with all-cause and cause-specific mortality among US cancer survivors

BACKGROUND

Lymphocyte-to-C-reactive protein ratio (LCR) has been linked to survival in malignancies. However, most studies are from Asia. The knowledge about the link between LCR levels and risks of all-cause mortality and cause-specific mortality among cancer participants in the US is lacking.

METHODS

Using multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression, we investigated the associations between LCR and mortalities in 1999 cancer participants from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999-2008 with mortality follow-up through December 31, 2019.

RESULTS

The median follow-up time was 156 months. Cancer participants with low LCR levels were associated with increased risks for all-cause and cancer mortality. Based on the full adjustment model, compared to the lowest LCR tertile, the hazard ratios and 95% confidence interval (HR, 95% CI) of all-cause mortality were 0.75 (0.66-0.87) in the second tertile, 0.60 (0.49-0.72) in the top tertile. The HR of cancer mortality was 0.71 (0.52-0.99) in the second tertile and 0.53 (0.35-0.79) in the top tertile. The link between LCR level and all-cause and cancer mortality remained significant when individuals who died within 2 years of follow-up were excluded.

CONCLUSIONS

This prospective study provided evidence of inverse associations between LCR levels and all-cause and cause-specific mortalities based on representative noninstitutional US cancer survivors. Integrating LCR assessment in the clinical routine of US cancer patients may aid in identifying cancer individuals at high risk of mortalities.

C-reactive protein and digestive pathologies: A narrative review for daily clinical use

The aim of this narrative review is to familiarize clinicians, especially digestive surgeons, to adequately use of serum C-reactive protein as a reliable noninvasive biomarker in diverse practical clinical situations. We hope that the review will help clinicians for their decision-making when facing various digestive diseases including operative and nonoperative pathologies such as anastomotic leakage, pancreatitis, emergency situation, and digestive cancer management and prognosis.

Prediction of postoperative infectious complications in elderly patients with colorectal cancer: a study based on improved machine learning

BACKGROUND

Infectious complications after colorectal cancer (CRC) surgery increase perioperative mortality and are significantly associated with poor prognosis. We aimed to develop a model for predicting infectious complications after colorectal cancer surgery in elderly patients based on improved machine learning (ML) using inflammatory and nutritional indicators.

METHODS

The data of 512 elderly patients with colorectal cancer in the Third Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University from March 2018 to April 2022 were retrospectively collected and randomly divided into a training set and validation set. The optimal cutoff values of NLR (3.80), PLR (238.50), PNI (48.48), LCR (0.52), and LMR (2.46) were determined by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve; Six conventional machine learning models were constructed using patient data in the training set: Linear Regression, Random Forest, Support Vector Machine (SVM), BP Neural Network (BP), Light Gradient Boosting Machine (LGBM), Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) and an improved moderately greedy XGBoost (MGA-XGBoost) model. The performance of the seven models was evaluated by area under the receiver operator characteristic curve, accuracy (ACC), precision, recall, and F1-score of the validation set.

RESULTS

Five hundred twelve cases were included in this study; 125 cases (24%) had postoperative infectious complications. Postoperative infectious complications were notably associated with 10 items features: American Society of Anesthesiologists scores (ASA), operation time, diabetes, presence of stomy, tumor location, NLR, PLR, PNI, LCR, and LMR. MGA-XGBoost reached the highest AUC (0.862) on the validation set, which was the best model for predicting postoperative infectious complications in elderly patients with colorectal cancer. Among the importance of the internal characteristics of the model, LCR accounted for the highest proportion.

CONCLUSIONS

This study demonstrates for the first time that the MGA-XGBoost model with 10 risk factors might predict postoperative infectious complications in elderly CRC patients.

Insights behind the Relationship between Colorectal Cancer and Obesity: Is Visceral Adipose Tissue the Missing Link?

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a major health problem worldwide, with an estimated 1.9 million new cases and 915,880 deaths in 2020 alone. The etiology of CRC is complex and involves both genetic and lifestyle factors. Obesity is a major risk factor for CRC, and the mechanisms underlying this link are still unclear. However, the generalized inflammatory state of adipose tissue in obesity is thought to play a role in the association between CRC risk and development. Visceral adipose tissue (VAT) is a major source of proinflammatory cytokines and other factors that contribute to the characteristic systemic low-grade inflammation associated with obesity. VAT is also closely associated with the tumor microenvironment (TME), and recent evidence suggests that adipocytes within the TME undergo phenotypic changes that contribute to tumor progression. In this review, we aim to summarize the current evidence linking obesity and CRC, with a focus on the role of VAT in tumor etiology and progression.