Pre-operative hypoalbuminaemia predicts poor overall survival in rectal cancer: a retrospective cohort analysis

Serum albumin is a marker of nutrition and inflammation. It has recently emerged as a predictor of outcome after surgery for rectal cancer. Our aim was to evaluate if pre-operative serum albumin would predict survival after resection for rectal cancer. 226 Patients with rectal cancer of all stages undergoing resection with curative intent were studied. Kaplan-Meier curves analysed survival based on a pre-operative albumin level of 35 g/L. We sought for significant associations of survival with age, sex, stage, tumour site, use of neoadjuvant chemoradiation, microscopic positive resection margins, differentiation, angio, peri-neural, and lymphovascular invasion using individual variable analysis. Multifactorial analysis was performed using type III analysis with Weibull hazard model and Cox-proportional hazard model. Significance was assigned to a P value