Role of the prognostic nutritional index in patients with soft-tissue sarcoma

Abstract

Background: This study aimed to determine whether the prognostic nutritional index (PNI) can predict the prognosis in patients with soft-tissue sarcoma (STS) before treatment and to examine whether there is an association between PNI values and clinical characteristics. Patients and Methods: The data on 100 patients with primary STS were retrospectively reviewed. The cohort included 55 men and 45 women, with a mean age of 64 years. The mean follow-up duration was 41.7 months. Results: The median PNI was 51.35. The PNI was significantly inversely associated with tumor size, tumor grade, and age. We found that the PNI was a significant prognostic marker for disease-specific and event-free survival using univariate and multivariate analyses. Patients with a low PNI had poorer disease-specific and event-free survival than those with a high PNI. Conclusion: These results suggest that the PNI can be used as a prognostic marker in patients with STS.