Preoperative platelet count improves the prognostic prediction of the FIGO staging system for operable cervical cancer patients.

Background: Increased platelet has been identified as an independent and unfavorable prognostic indicator in various cancers including cervical cancer. In our study, the prognostic value of preoperative platelet count combining with FIGO (International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics) stage in patients with operable cervical cancer was investigated.

Methods: A large cohort study including 800 operable cervical cancer patients was conducted from May 2005 to December 2012. Cancer-related biomarkers such as platelet count, hematocrit, hemoglobin, RDW was evaluated together with FIGO staging system in stage IA1-IIA2 cervical cancer patients. The prediction validity of platelet together with FIGO stage was then evaluated by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, and the areas under the curve (AUCs) were compared by Z test.

Results: Univariate cox proportional hazard analysis demonstrated that hematocrit, platelet count, hemoglobin, FIGO stage, tumor differentiation, PLN (pelvic lymph node metastasis), LVSI (vascular lymph node invasion) were associated with overall survival (OS) and disease free survival (DFS), instead of RDW (red cell distribution width), age and histological subtype. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that preoperative platelet and FIGO stage were independent predictors for OS and DFS in cervical cancer. Furthermore, significant improvements were found after the combination of platelet count and FIGO stage in predicting OS and DFS for cervical cancer patients (P=0.0128 and P=0.0385, respectively).

Conclusions: Combination of platelet count and FIGO stage improved the prediction performance of FIGO staging and provide additional risk stratification for operable cervical cancer patients.