Purpose: Preoperative elevation of serum C-reactive protein (CRP) is a prognostic indicator for some malignant tumors. We investigated the clinicopathologic importance of an elevated preoperative serum CRP value in gastric carcinoma patients.
Methods: We studied the relationship between the preoperative serum CRP value and clinicopathologic characteristics in 204 patients who underwent curative resection of gastric carcinoma.
Results: The patients with preoperative CRP elevation had significantly poorer survival than those without CRP elevation (P < 0.0001). According to multivariate analysis, the factors independently associated with an unfavorable prognosis were a high preoperative CRP value (P = 0.024), lymphatic invasion (P = 0.017) and advanced tumor stage (P = 0.016).
Conclusion: Preoperative serum CRP elevation can be an independent prognostic indicator in patients with gastric carcinoma.