Abstract
Objective: Hypoalbuminemia is an accepted prognostic indicator of increased morbidity and mortality; however, low serum albumin levels during the pre-treatment period are associated with poor survival in cancer patients. This study aimed to investigate the effects of pre- and post-operative albumin levels on endometrial cancer (EC) prognosis and patient survival.
Method: Clinical and laboratory data for 128 patients with EC were obtained retrospectively from the hospital archive. Pre- and post-operative serum albumin levels were compared with patients’ pathology results and survival.
Results: The mean age of the patients was 59.1 years, and 80.5% of patients had endometrioid type, 59.1% had grade 1 and 71.1% had stage I EC. The mean pre-operative albumin value of patients was 4.1 g/dL, and the mean post-operative albumin value of patients on post-operative day 1 was 3.39 g/dL. Both preoperative and postoperative albumin levels were found to be low in patients with have non-endometrioid type histology and advanced stage, which are considered as a poor prognostic factor in EC. While no correlation was found between the preoperative albumin level and overall survival, patients with a low postoperative albumin value showed poor survival.
Conclusions: The fact that serum albumin levels are associated with endometrial cancer prognostic factors suggests that albumin level may also be an independent prognostic factor, however prospective randomized studies are needed to make definite judgments on this issue.