The Effect of the Prognostic Nutritional Index on the Toxic Side Effects of Radiochemotherapy and Prognosis After Radical Surgery for Gastric Cancer

OBJECTIVE: A retrospective analysis was conducted to investigate the effect of the preoperative prognostic nutritional index (PNI) on the severity of toxic side effects of radiochemotherapy and the survival prognosis of patients with gastric cancer to guide the clinical nutritional support for patients with gastric cancer. METHODS: Data of 191 patients with gastric cancer in the Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery of Guizhou Cancer Hospital and the Affiliated Hospital of Guizhou Medical University between January 2008 and December 2018 were analyzed retrospectively. Patients were allocated to the high PNI group (with PNI ≥47.7) and the low PNI group (with PNI <47.7) according to the PNI cutoff value, and the incidence of severe toxic side effects of radiochemotherapy and the overall survival time were compared between the high PNI group and low PNI group. In addition, prognostic factor analysis was performed. RESULTS: The severe hematologic side effects of radiochemotherapy and shorter postoperative survival time were more likely to occur in the low PNI group than in the high PNI group. The multifactor analysis showed that TNM stage (p = 0.000) and PNI (p = 0.001) were the independent risk factors for the overall postoperative survival time in patients with gastric cancer. CONCLUSION: Preoperative PNI might predict the severity of hematologic toxic side effects of adjuvant chemotherapy/radiochemotherapy in patients with gastric cancer after surgery. Patients in the low PNI group were more likely to have severe hematologic toxic side effects, and therefore a low PNI might be one of the important factors affecting the prognosis of gastric cancer.