Affiliations: Second Department of Special Treatment, Eastern Hepatobiliary Surgery Hospital, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, China
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Aijun Li, Second Department of Special Treatment, Eastern Hepatobiliary Surgery Hospital, Second Military Medical University, No. 225 Changhai Road, 200438 Shanghai, China. Tel.: +86 021 81875531; E-mail:aijunli08@163.com
Abstract: BACKGROUND: Red blood cell distribution width (RDW) is a parameter
reported in blood routine examination, and has been reported as an
inflammatory biomarker. The objective of this study was to investigate the
significance of RDW in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma after radical
resection. METHOD: The relationship between the preoperative serum RDW value
and clinic pathologic characteristics was analyzed in 106 HCC patients who
underwent curative resection of hepatocellular carcinoma. Kaplan-Meier
survival analysis and Cox proportional hazard models were used to examine
the effect of RDW on survival. RESULTS: The RDW levels were divided into two groups: high RDW
(> 14.5%) and low RDW (≤ 14.5%), (n= 28 vs n= 78). The patients with
preoperative high levels of RDW had significantly worse survival than those
with low RDW (p< 0.05). According to multivariate analysis, high RDW (HR = 1.89,
p= 0.002), TNM stage (HR = 1.70, p= 0.019), tumor size (HR = 1.33, p= 0.045), tumor
number (HR = 1.42, p= 0.027) and vascular invasion (HR = 1.64, p= 0.009) were
independent prognostic factors of OS. CONCLUSIONS: Preoperative high levels of RDW are associated with
poor survival. It might be an independent prognostic factor in patients with
hepatocellular carcinoma.
Keywords: Red blood cell distribution width, hepatocellular carcinoma, prognosis
