Prognostic Significance of Pre- and Postoperative Lymphocyte Counts in Patients with Gastric Cancer

Background: Although preoperative lymphopenia is reportedly a prognostic factor in cancer patients, the association between postoperative lymphopenia and patient prognosis has not been widely studied. Methods: We enrolled 352 patients who underwent surgery for gastric cancer (GC) between January 2005 and April 2013 to analyze correlations among pre- and postoperative lymphocyte counts (LCs) and prognosis in GC patients. Results: Pre- and postoperative (obtained 1 day after surgery) LCs were significantly correlated (r = 0.496, p < 0.0001). Pre- and postoperative LCs of elderly patients were significantly lower than those of non-elderly patients. Postoperative lymphocyte count was significantly lower in patients with a differentiated tumor than in those with an undifferentiated tumor. Based on the results of receiver operating characteristic analysis, patients were classified into subgroups as: preoperative LC ≥1,676 (pre-LC ^High ), preoperative LC <1,676 (pre-LC ^Low ); and as postoperative LC ≥855 (post-LC ^High ), and postoperative LC <855 (post-LC ^Low ). Five-year overall survival rates significantly differed between pre-LC ^High (82.5%) and pre-LC ^Low (71.6%) groups (p = 0.023); and also between the post-LC ^High (81.5%) and post-LC ^Low (69.5%) groups (p = 0.0072). The 5-year disease specific survival rates were 91.3 and 82.4% in patients with post-LC ^High and those with post-LC ^Low , respectively, and differences were statistically significant (p = 0.015). Multivariate analysis indicated that postoperative lymphocyte count was an independent prognostic indicator, along with age, gender, tumor size, lymph node metastasis, and venous invasion. Conclusions: Postoperative lymphocyte count is a useful predictive factor for prognosis in GC patients.