2021 Volume 3 Issue 2 Pages 68-74
Objective: Chemotherapy is used to improve otherwise poor prognosis of advanced gallbladder cancer (GBC), especially that with distant metastasis. The prognostic nutritional index (PNI) has been reported as a prognostic factor for different types of malignancies, but the association of the PNI with the prognosis of GBC with distant metastasis after chemotherapy has not yet been investigated. In this study, we assessed significance of nutritional assessment in relation to duration of chemotherapy in GBC patients with distant metastasis.
Methods: From 76 consecutive patients with GBC, 11 with distant metastasis who underwent chemotherapy using gemcitabine or S1 plus gemcitabine and had complete PNI data were selected, and the association of PNI with duration of chemotherapy and prognosis was analyzed.
Results: Median survival time was significantly worse in 8 patients with low PNI (< 39) than in 3 with high PNI (≥ 39) (median survival time: 5.3 vs 7.8 months, p = 0.027). Median duration of chemotherapy was significantly longer in the 3 patients with high PNI than in the 8 with low PNI (13.0 vs 3.6 months, p = 0.036).
Conclusion: The findings of this study suggested that high initial PNI indicates the possibility of long-term chemotherapy and thus better prognosis in GBC patients with distant metastasis.
