The Prognostic Prediction Role of Preoperative Serum Albumin Level in Patients with Intahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma Following Hepatectomy

<b><i>Background:</i></b> There is little information regarding the role of preoperative serum albumin (ALB) in intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) patients who underwent liver resection. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> Clinicopathological characteristics and survival rate of 91 ICC patients who underwent surgery between 2009 and 2013 were included in this study. The optimal cut-off for ALB were determined by plotting the receiver operating characteristics curves of ALB in predicting overall survival (OS) and utilizing the Youden index. Long-term outcome was calculated by Kaplan-meire method. <b><i>Results:</i></b> The pathological characteristics were similar in both groups. The 1- and 3-year disease-free survival (DFS) rates between the high ALB group and the lower ALB group were 62.7 vs. 25.5% and 27.0 vs. 11.1% respectively (<i>p</i> &#x3c; 0.001). The 1- and 3-year OS rates between the high ALB group and the lower ALB group were 78.4 vs. 57.5% and 42.6 vs. 6.7% respectively (<i>p</i> &#x3c; 0.001). The ALB level as continuous variable in multivariate analysis remained a favorable factor for DFS and OS (<i>p</i> &#x3c; 0.05). Furthermore, ALB could distinguish the prognoses in non-cirrhotic patients. Multivariate analysis showed other pathological risk factors like lymph node involvement, positive surgical margin, satellite lesions, and carbohydrate antigen 19-9 were associated with DFS and OS (<i>p</i> &#x3c; 0.05 for all). <b><i>Conclusions:</i></b> A higher preoperative serum ALB level is associated with better long-term survival in ICC patients.