The association of plasma fibrinogen with clinicopathological features and prognosis in esophageal cancer patients

BACKGROUND: Numerous studies have shown that plasma fibrinogen was linked to esophageal cancer (EC) risk. However, the clinical significance of plasma fibrinogen in EC patients remain unclear and need to be further clarified. RESULTS: A total of 2865 patients with EC from 11 published studies were included in this meta-analysis. The prognostic and clinical relevance of plasma fibrinogen were evaluated in EC patients. Statistical significance of the pooled hazard ratio (HR) was found for overall survival (OS), disease free survival (DFS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) in EC. Subgroup analyses for OS were also performed to confirm the prognostic value of plasma fibrinogen. Additionally, the overall results indicated that elevated plasma fibrinogen was significantly associated with tumor invasion, lymph node metastasis (LNM) and clinical stage. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A comprehensive literature retrieval was performed in PubMed, Embase, Cochrane database, Web of science and Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and Wanfang databases to identify relevant studies published prior to April 15, 2017. CONCLUSIONS: Elevated plasma fibrinogen could be served as a promising biomarker for predicting a poor prognosis and unfavorable clinicopathologic features for EC.