Impact of preoperative levels of hemoglobin and albumin on the survival of pancreatic carcinoma

Abstract

Introduction: Pancreatic cancer presents the worst survival rates of all neoplasms. Surgical resection is the only potentially curative treatment, but is associated with high complication rates and outcome is bad even in those resected cases. Therefore, candidates amenable for resection must be carefully selected. Identification of prognostic factors preoperatively may help to improve the treatment of these patients, focusing on individually management based on the expected response.

Patients and methods: We perform a retrospective study of 59 patients with histological diagnosis of pancreatic carcinoma between 1999 and 2003, looking for possible prognostic factors.

Results: We analyze 59 patients, 32 males and 27 females with a mean age of 63.8 years. All the patients were operated, performing palliative surgery in 32% and tumoral resection in 68%, including pancreaticoduodenectomies in 51% and distal pancreatectomy in 17%. Median global survival was 14 months (Range 1-110).We observed that preoperative levels of hemoglobin under 12 g/dl (p = 0.0006) and serum albumina under 2.8 g/dl (p = 0.021) are associated with worse survival.

Conclusion: Preoperative levels of hemoglobin and serum albumina may be prognostic indicators in pancreatic cancer.