Predictive value of platelet distribution width on prognosis of neuroblastoma

Objective To discuss whether platelet distribution width (PDW) can effectively predict the prognosis of neuroblastoma (NB). Methods The clinical data of 67 NB patients in the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University between January 2014 and January 2018 were retrospectively analyzed.They were divided into low PDW group and high PDW group according to the PDW level, and the differences in clinical indicators between the 2 groups were compared.The prognostic effects of PDW were assessed by using the Kaplan-Meier method and Cox regression model. Results Among the 67 patients, 41 cases were male, 26 cases were female, with the ratio of male to female being 1.58∶1.00, and the average age was 44 months (2-156 months). Five cases were in stage Ⅰ, 1 case in stage Ⅱ, 15 cases in stage Ⅲ and 46 cases in stage Ⅳ.At the first time of diagnosis, there were 14 cases with age ≤ 18 months, 53 cases with age > 18 months, 47 cases with neuron specific enolase (NSE) level ≥ 100 μg/L, 20 cases with NSE level 0.05). The proportion of high-risk patients, the level of NSE, bone marrow metastasis rate, MYCN gene amplification rate and the red blood cell distribution width in the high PDW group were significantly higher than those in the low PDW group, but the high PDW group had a lower level of thrombocytocrit than the low PDW group, and the differences were statistically significant(all P<0.05). Survival analysis revealed that the 2-year overall survival of the low PDW group was significantly higher than that of the high PDW group (69.8% vs.25.3%, χ2=15.761, P<0.05). Univariate analysis showed that NSE (HR=6.606, 95%CI: 2.018-21.620), MYCN gene (HR=1.977, 95%CI: 0.794-4.919), tumor risk stratification (HR=5.926, 95%CI: 1.416-24.794), PDW (HR=4.036, 95%CI: 1.957-8.322), and red blood cell distribution width (HR=1.120, 95%CI: 1.005-1.249) were the adverse factors affecting the overall survival, and thrombocytocrit was a protective factor for the prognosis of NB.Multivariate analysis indicated that PDW was an independent risk factor of NB (HR=2.524, 95%CI: 1.017-6.264, P=0.046). Conclusions There is a good consistency between the increase of PDW and the known prognostic risk factors, elevated tumor markers and bone marrow metastasis.Increased PDW is associated with poor prognosis in NB patients, and PDW is an independent risk factor for the poor prognosis of NB. Key words: Neuroblastoma; Platelet distribution width; Prognosis; Overall survival