title: Impact of plasma fibrinogen levels in benign and malignant soft tissue tumors.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Fibrinogen, a 340 kDa glycoprotein synthesized in the liver, is known to be involved in tumor angiogenesis, enlargement, and metastasis. Elevated plasma fibrinogen levels are associated with tumor progression in many cancer patients. However, there are no reports about differences in fibrinogen levels between benign and malignant soft tissue tumors.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to clarify whether preoperative plasma fibrinogen levels can be used for differential diagnosis of benign or malignant soft tissue tumors.
  
  
  METHODS
  The plasma fibrinogen levels from 102 primary soft tissue tumor patients were measured before biopsy or treatment. Fibrinogen levels were analyzed and compared to various clinical parameters.
  
  
  RESULTS
  According to receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, a threshold of serum fibrinogen of 315 mg/dL identified malignant patients with 60.9% sensitivity and 87.5% specificity. The diagnostic accuracy was evaluated by area under the curve (AUC: 0.805). Over 315 mg/dL of fibrinogen was associated with a significantly increased risk of malignancy by multiple logistic regression analysis (OR: 6.452, p= 0.0004).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We demonstrated that plasma fibrinogen levels have a relationship with tumor malignancy of soft tissue tumors. High fibrinogen levels can be a helpful subsidiary tool for the prediction of malignant soft tissue tumors with other diagnostic tools.
authors.forename: Kunihiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Asanuma
authors.forename: Akihiko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Matsumine
authors.forename: Tomoki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.forename: Takao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Matsubara
authors.forename: Yumiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Asanuma
authors.forename: Toru
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Oi
authors.forename: Mikinobu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Goto
authors.forename: Kazuma
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Okuno
authors.forename: Takuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kakimoto
authors.forename: Yuuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yada
authors.forename: Akihiro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sudo
mesh_terms: D049109:Cell Proliferation; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D005340:Fibrinogen / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012372:ROC Curve; D012509:Sarcoma / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D012983:Soft Tissue Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D005340:Fibrinogen
keywords: Fibrinogen; logistic analysis; malignant; receiver operating characteristic (ROC); sarcoma; soft tissue tumor