Evaluation of the prognostic value of systemic inflammation and socioeconomic deprivation in patients with resectable colorectal liver metastases.

BACKGROUND There is increasing evidence that the presence of a pre-operative systemic inflammatory response (SIR) independently predicts poor long-term outcome in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC). Socioeconomic deprivation was reported to correlate with the presence of the SIR and to independently predict poor outcome following primary CRC resection. The aim of this study was to determine the prognostic value of pre-operative systemic inflammatory biomarkers and socioeconomic deprivation in patients undergoing resection of colorectal liver metastases (CLM) and to examine correlations between these variables in this context. PATIENTS AND METHODS Clinicopathological data, including the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre Clinical Risk Score (CRS), were obtained from a prospectively maintained database for 174 patients who underwent hepatectomy for CLM between January 2000 and December 2005 at a single United Kingdom (UK) tertiary referral hepatobiliary centre. Inflammatory biomarkers (total and differential leucocyte counts, neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio, platelet count, haemoglobin, and serum albumin) were measured from routine pre-operative blood tests. Socioeconomic deprivation was measured using the Carstairs deprivation score. RESULTS On multivariable analysis, poor CRS (3-5), high neutrophil count (>6.0 x 10(9)/l) and low serum albumin (<40g/dl) were the only independent predictors of shortened overall survival following metastasectomy, with neutrophil count representing the greatest relative risk of death. These factors were also the only independent predictors of shortened disease-free survival following hepatectomy. Socioeconomic deprivation was associated with neither systemic inflammation nor long-term outcome in this context. CONCLUSIONS The presence of a pre-operative systemic inflammatory response, but not socioeconomic deprivation, independently predicts shortened survival following resection of CLM.