Elevated Levels of Plasma Fibrinogen in Patients With Pancreatic Cancer Possible Role of a Distant Metastasis Predictor

Objectives: Although changes of plasma fibrinogen have been documented in limited pancreatic malignant tumors, a relationship between plasma fibrinogen and pancreatic cancer in a large-scale clinical study has not been shown. Methods: Preoperative plasma levels of fibrinogen were retrospectively analyzed in 133 pancreatic cancer and 38 pancreatic benign tumor patients. Results: Plasma fibrinogen in pancreatic cancer patients were significantly higher than those with benign pancreatic tumor (3.99 +/- 1.01 vs 2.62 +/- 0.65; P < 0.001). The percentage of hyperfibrinogenemia (> 4.20 g/L) in pancreatic cancer was 41.1%, and no positive results were obtained in benign pancreatic disease. Plasma fibrinogen levels were increased in pancreatic cancer with advanced tumor stage. Accompanied with the progression of tumor stage, there was an increase in the percentage of positivity of hyperfibrinogenemia in pancreatic cancer. There were markedly higher levels of plasma fibrinogen in the distant-metastasis group than in the no-distant-metastasis group (4.41 +/- 0.84 vs 3.76 +/- 1.04; P < 0.01). Univariate and multivariate analysis revealed that high plasma fibrinogen levels (> 4.20 g/L) were positively associated with distant metastasis of pancreatic cancer. Conclusions: Plasma fibrinogen levels had a positive relationship with tumor stage of pancreatic cancer. Increased preoperative plasma fibrinogen levels might be a useful predictor for distant metastasis in human pancreatic cancer.