title: Preoperative C-Reactive Protein/Albumin Ratio Predicts Prognosis of Patients after Curative Resection for Gastric Cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  An elevated preoperative C-reactive protein/albumin (CRP/Alb) ratio has been reported to be associated with a poor prognosis for hepatocellular carcinoma. The aim of the present study was to investigate the prognostic value of the preoperative CRP/Alb ratio and compare it with other systemic inflammatory response markers in patients with gastric cancer (GC).
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective study was performed in 455 patients with GC undergoing curative resection. We investigated the correlations between the preoperative CRP/Alb ratio and overall survival (OS). Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression models were used to assess independent prognostic factors. The area under the curve was used to compare the prognostic value of different markers.
  
  
  RESULTS
  On multivariate analysis, the CRP/Alb ratio were independently associated with OS in patients with GC (hazard ratio: 1.626; 95% confidence interval: 1.191-2.219; P = .002), along with age (P = .003), preoperative body weight loss (P = .001), tumor location (P = .008), metastatic lymph node ratio (P < .001), and seventh tumor-nodes-metastasis stage (American Joint Committee on Cancer) (P = .007). However, several other systemic inflammation-based prognostic scores (neutrophil lymphocyte ratio, platelet lymphocyte ratio and systemic immune-inflammation index, Glasgow Prognostic Score, modified Glasgow prognostic score, and high-sensitivity modified Glasgow prognostic score) were not. In addition, the CRP/Alb ratio had a higher area under the curve value (0.625) compared with several other systemic inflammation-based prognostic scores (P < .001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The preoperative CRP/Alb ratio, a system inflammation-based prognostic score, is a superior predictor of OS in patients undergoing curative resection for GC and may help to identify the high-risk patients for treatment decisions.
authors: Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou 510060, China; Department of Gastric and Pancreatic Surgery, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China. Electronic address: liuxch@sysucc.org.cn.
authors: Xuechao
authors: X
authors: Liu
authors: Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou 510060, China; Department of Gastric and Pancreatic Surgery, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China. Electronic address: sunxw@sysucc.org.cn.
authors: Xiaowei
authors: X
authors: Sun
authors: Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou 510060, China; Department of Gastric and Pancreatic Surgery, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China. Electronic address: liujj@sysucc.org.cn.
authors: Jianjun
authors: J
authors: Liu
authors: Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou 510060, China; Department of Gastric and Pancreatic Surgery, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China. Electronic address: kongpf@sysucc.org.cn.
authors: Pengfei
authors: P
authors: Kong
authors: Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou 510060, China; Department of Gastric and Pancreatic Surgery, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China. Electronic address: chenshx@sysucc.org.cn.
authors: Shangxiang
authors: S
authors: Chen
authors: Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou 510060, China; Department of Gastric and Pancreatic Surgery, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China. Electronic address: zhanyq@sysucc.org.cn.
authors: Youqing
authors: Y
authors: Zhan
authors: Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou 510060, China; Department of Gastric and Pancreatic Surgery, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China. Electronic address: xudzh@sysucc.org.cn.
authors: Dazhi
authors: D
authors: Xu