Diagnostic value of platelet parameters in gastric cancer and relationship to clinicopathological characteristics

Objective To investigate the diagnostic value of platelet parameters in patients with gastric cancer and its relationship with clinicopathological characteristics. Methods A total of 391 gastric cancer patients who were treated in the Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University from December 2015 to December 2020 were enrolled as a gastric cancer group, while 149 healthy people who underwent physical examination in our hospital were selected as a control group. The differences of platelet parameters between the two groups and the relationship between preoperative platelet parameters and clinicopathological data in gastric cancer group were retrospectively analyzed. Meanwhile, a ROC curve was plotted to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of platelet parameters in gastric cancer. Results The gastric cancer group showed remarkable increases in platelet count (PLT) and decreases in mean platelet volume (MPV), platelet size deviation width (PDW) and platelet-to-large-cell ratio (P-LCR), compared with the control group (P<0.05). PLT and PCT in the gastric cancer group increased with the increase of tumor maximum diameter, degree of differentiation, depth of invasion, TNM stage, CEA, CA19-9 and lymph node metastasis (P<0.05). With the increase of maximum tumor diameter and TNM stage, PDW decreased in the gastric cancer group (P<0.05). PLT and PCT have diagnostic value for gastric cancer, and PLT has high diagnostic efficiency. Conclusions Preoperative platelet parameters can be used as reference for the early diagnosis of gastric cancer.