Introduction: Although Crohn's disease (CD) is a known risk factor of small bowel adenocarcinoma (SBA), early diagnosis remains a significant clinical challenge. Identification of biomarkers for SBA may lead to early detection.
Methods: This is a retrospective study comparing albumin levels and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) of patients with long-standing CD who underwent small bowel resection with and without malignancy.
Results: Forty-two patients with CD were included in this study (11 with SBA). Median NLR before surgery was 8.5 (interquartile range 6.2-31.3) in patients with SBA and 3.8 (interquartile range 2.8-5.3) for patients without SBA ( P < 0.05). Mean albumin levels before surgery were significantly lower among patients with SBA compared with patients without SBA (2.6 ± 0.6 g/dL vs 3.5 ± 0.6 g/dL, respectively, P < 0.05), despite patients with SBA being under longer total parenteral nutrition treatment duration.
Discussion: CD patients with SBA diagnosis have increased NLR and lower albumin before surgery compared with CD patients without detection of SBA.
Copyright © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. on behalf of The American College of Gastroenterology.