Relationship between emergency presentation, systemic inflammatory response, and cancer-specific survival in patients undergoing potentially curative surgery for colon cancer.
BACKGROUND
Emergency presentation is recognized to be associated with poorer cancer-specific survival following curative resection for colorectal cancer. The present study examined the hypothesis that an enhanced systemic inflammatory response, prior to surgery, might explain the impact of emergency presentation on survival.


METHODS
In all, 188 patients undergoing potentially curative resection for colorectal cancer were studied. Of these, 55 (29%) presented as emergencies. The systemic inflammatory response was assessed using the Glasgow Prognostic Score (mGPS), which is the combination of an elevated C-reactive protein (>10 mg/L) and hypoalbuminemia (<35 g/L).


RESULTS
In the emergency group, tumor stage was greater (P < 0.01), more patients received adjuvant therapy (P < 0.01) more patients had an elevated mGPS (P < 0.01), and more patients died of their disease (P < 0.05). The minimum follow-up was 12 months; the median follow-up of the survivors was 48 months. Emergency presentation was associated with poorer 3-year cancer-specific survival in those patients aged 65 to 74 years (P < 0.01), in both males and females (P < 0.05), in the deprived (P < 0.01), in patients with tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) stage II disease (P < 0.01), in those who received no adjuvant therapy (P < 0.01), and in the mGPS 0 and 1 groups (P < 0.05) groups. On multivariate survival analysis of patients undergoing potentially curative surgery for TNM stage II colon cancer, emergency presentation (P < 0.05) and mGPS (P < 0.05) were independently associated with cancer-specific survival.


CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest that emergency presentation and the presence of systemic inflammatory response prior to surgery are linked and account for poorer cancer-specific survival in patients undergoing potentially curative surgery for colon cancer. Both emergency presentation and an elevated mGPS should be taken into account when assessing the likely outcome of these patients.
Crozier
Joseph E M
JE
University Department of Surgery, Royal Infirmary, Glasgow, UK. joey@clinmed.gla.ac.uk
Leitch
E Fiona
EF
McKee
Ruth F
RF
Anderson
John H
JH
Horgan
Paul G
PG
McMillan
Donald C
DC
D000368:Aged; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000032:analysis; D003082:Colectomy; D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*; D004630:Emergencies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D034141:Hypoalbuminemia / Q000175:diagnosis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012709:Serum Albumin / Q000032:analysis; D016019:Survival Analysis; D018746:Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome / Q000097:blood
D012709:Serum Albumin; D002097:C-Reactive Protein