A prognostic nutritional index-based nomogram for predicting postoperative survival in stages I-III rectal cancer patients.

Introduction: Rectal cancer (RC) is a common malignancy of the digestive system with both high incidence and mortality. Its prognosis is influenced by multiple factors, with nutritional status playing a pivotal role. However, current prognostic models rarely incorporate this factor. Methods: To address this gap, we have developed a novel prognostic nomogram. The newly constructed Prognostic Nutritional Index (PNI)-incorporated nomogram incorporates preoperative pathological tumor-node-metastasis (pTNM) stage, preoperative PNI, preoperative serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) levels, intraoperative blood loss (IBL), and postoperative serum CEA levels. Results: Our analysis showed that preoperative PNI ≤ 47.15, preoperative CEA > 14.13 ng/mL, IBL > 130 mL, postoperative CEA > 4.8 ng/mL, and advanced pTNM stage were independent risk factors for poor survival in patients with stage I-III rectal cancer. Compared with the non-PNI nomograms (combining preoperative CEA, postoperative CEA, pTNM and IBL, but without PNI) and the conventional pTNM staging models, the C-index of the PNI-incorporated nomogram is 0.721, compared to 0.710 for non-PNI nomograms and 0.636 for pTNM staging models, demonstrating improved predictive performance. Furthermore, the PNI-incorporated nomogram achieved AUC values of 0.855, 0.759, and 0.717 for 1, 3, and 5 year overall survival prediction, respectively, in the training set, and 0.952, 0.682, and 0.658 for the corresponding time points in the validation set. Conclusion: This model significantly improves existing prognostic methods and provides clinicians with a more comprehensive and clinically applicable tool for predicting outcomes in patients with RC.