Comparison of Preoperative Nutritional Indexes for Outcomes after Primary Esophageal Surgery for Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Abstract

Background: This study aimed to compare the controlling nutritional status (CONUT) score, prognostic nutritional index (PNI), and geriatric nutritional risk index (GNRI) for predicting postoperative outcomes in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma undergoing esophagectomy. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the data of 1265 consecutive patients who underwent elective esophageal surgery. The patients were classified into no risk, low-risk, moderate-risk, and high-risk groups based on nutritional scores. Results: The moderate-risk (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.55, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.24–1.92, p p = 0.001 in GNRI; HR: 1.65, 95% CI: 1.20–2.26, p = 0.002 in PNI) and high-risk groups (HR: 1.91, 95% CI: 1.47–2.48, p p p p for trend in all indexes < 0.05). Conclusions: Malnutrition, evaluated by any of three nutritional indexes, was an independent prognostic factor for postoperative survival.

Keywords

• esophageal cancer
• controlling nutritional status score
• prognostic nutritional index
• geriatric nutritional risk index
• survival