title: Elevated preoperative serum C-reactive protein levels are associated with poor survival in patients with colorectal cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Previous studies have reported that elevated preoperative serum C-reactive protein (CRP) levels are associated with a poor prognosis in patients with various types of cancer. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prognostic significance of the preoperative serum CRP levels in patients with colorectal cancer and determine an appropriate cutoff value of the serum CRP level.
  
  
  METHODS
  We enrolled 855 patients who underwent surgery for stage I-IV colorectal cancer. The median serum CRP level was 0.13 (range: 0.01-22.8). We set 0.6 as the cutoff value of the serum CRP level based on the receiver operating characteristic curve. The patients were classified into two groups according to the serum CRP level. The prognostic significance of an elevated serum CRP level was evaluated using a multivariate analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The cancer-specific survival was significantly worse in the patients with a high serum CRP level. In particular, more significant differences were observed in the patients with stage IV disease. The multivariate analysis indicated that a high serum CRP level was an independent risk factor for poor survival.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The preoperative serum CRP level is a convenient biomarker and predictor of a poor prognosis after surgery for colorectal cancer.
authors.forename: Masatsune
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shibutani
authors.forename: Kiyoshi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Maeda
authors.forename: Hisashi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nagahara
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ohtani
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sugano
authors.forename: Tetsuro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ikeya
authors.forename: Kenjiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kimura
authors.forename: Ryosuke
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Amano
authors.forename: Naoshi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kubo
authors.forename: Hiroaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: Kazuya
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Muguruma
authors.forename: Masaichi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ohira
authors.forename: Kosei
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hirakawa
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000032:analysis*; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging
chemical_list: D002097:C-Reactive Protein