Background: The prognostic role of preoperative fibrinogen in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients remains controversial. Therefore, we assessed the predictive value of preoperative fibrinogen and developed a tool for predicting the survival of CRC patients.
Methods: This retrospective study evaluated 1869 patients who underwent curative resection for CRC. Univariate and multivariate survival analyses were conducted to identify the factors correlated with overall survival (OS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS). Nomograms were developed as a graphical representation of the Cox proportional hazards regression models. The performance of the nomograms was assessed by Harrell’s concordance index (c-index) and calibration plots.
Results: The preoperative fibrinogen levels were correlated with age, tumor differentiation, tumor location, pT category, and TNM stage. In the multivariate analysis, elevated fibrinogen level was independently correlated with worse OS and CSS (OS: hazard ratio [HR] = 0.777, 95% confidence interval [95% CI] = 0.630– 0.958, P = 0.018; CSS: HR = 0.757, 95% CI = 0.605– 0.947, P = 0.015). The nomograms could predict outcomes with a c-index for OS and CSS of 0.79 and 0.81, respectively. The nomograms also had a good calibration.
Conclusion: Preoperative fibrinogen level was an independent marker of poor prognosis in patients with nonmetastatic CRC, and there was a threshold level for the use of fibrinogen as a prognostic factor. Furthermore, nomograms may help predict the individual risk of OS and CSS in patients treated for CRC.
Keywords: colorectal cancer, fibrinogen, prognosis, TNM staging, nomogram