The association and diagnostic value of red blood cell distribution width in colorectal cancer

Abstract

Red blood cell distribution width (RDW) is associated with several diseases. However, the diagnostic value of RDW and its related factors remain unclear in colorectal cancer (CRC). This single-center retrospective study evaluated 211 Chinese CRC patients and 103 healthy controls. The association of RDW with the clinical parameters of CRC, as well as its correlations with carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA19-9) were analyzed. The diagnostic value of RDW alone or combined with CEA and CA19-9 was evaluated using receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. A meta-analysis was also performed to combine our data with previously published data to enhance our findings. In the CRC patients, RDW was clearly elevated and was significantly associated with CRC tumor location, histological type, T status (but not N or M status), and clinical stage. However, RDW was not significantly correlated with CEA or CA19-9 levels. Using RDW to diagnose CRC provided a sensitivity of 53.1% and specificity of 77.7%. The diagnostic accuracy of RDW was enhanced by combining RDW with CEA and CA19-9 levels. We identified 5 previous studies with 633 CRC patients and 1050 controls, which were combined with our cases and controls. The meta-analysis revealed an overall sensitivity of 69%, specificity of 70%, and an area under the curve of 0.74. In CRC cases, RDW was associated with tumor location, histological type, T status, and clinical stage. Furthermore, RDW had a moderate value for diagnosing CRC and might be useful in this setting.

Role of red cell dstribution width in colorectal cancer diagnosis and prognosis

“…Similarly, high RDW was found to be associated with worse overall survival by Kust et al (7) in a retrospective study of 90 patients with CRC; however, this relationship was only present in subjects with stage II cancer. Several other studies have also shown similar results (1,4,31). In this study, we also showed that the preoperative mean RDW values of patients who died during postoperative followup were significantly higher than those who survived.…”

Prognostic evaluation of colorectal cancer using three new comprehensive indexes related to infection, anemia and coagulation derived from peripheral blood

“…Our study supported the view that indicators including HGB, MCV, and MCHC were worse in colon cancers. Previous reports, including ours, had highlighted the adverse prognostic warning of CRC at excessive RDW-CV level [17,54] . Based on the previous conclusions, the results of this study again utilized and expanded the significance of high RDW-CV in peripheral blood of CRC.…”

Identifying Novel Biomarkers Ready for Evaluation in Low-Prevalence Populations for the Early Detection of Lower Gastrointestinal Cancers: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…Similarly to mSEPT9, the sensitivity of TuM2-PK was higher for more advanced cancers (Dukes’ stage C and D; stages III and IV) and lower when it was used to detect adenomas, polyps or dysplasia. All three studies included in the meta-analysis compared the diagnostic performance of TuM2-PK to the established stool marker FIT, and demonstrated that FIT was preferable to TuM2-PK as a faecal biomarker for screening populations [ 94 , 116 , 117 ]. Three studies [ 50 , 67 , 115 ] evaluated TuM2-PK as a blood-based biomarker in combination with other markers or in panels, and all found sensitivity to be higher for TuM2-PK in combination with other markers.…”