Objective
To evaluate the correlation between change of blood coagulation indexes and chemotherapy efficacy after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NCT) in breast cancer patients.
Methods
Totally 146 patients in Department of Breast Surgery, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University from June 2010 to May 2012 were enrolled and their clinical data were retrospectively analyzed. The 5 ml venous blood was drawn from breast cancer patients before and after NCT to detect blood coagulation related indexes,including prothrombin time (PT), prothrombin activity (PT%), prothrombin time international normalized ratio (PTINR), activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), APTT ratio, fibrinogen (Fib), thrombin time(TT), platelet (PLT) and D-dimer (D-D). NCT efficacy was evaluated by Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors. Paired t-test and rank sum test were used to compare the blood coagulation indexes before and after NCT. Independent sample t-test and rank sum test were used to analyze the correlation of NCT efficacy with pre-NCT and post-NCT levels of blood coagulation indexes. Rank sum test was used to analyze the correlation between change of blood coagulation indexes and chemotherapy efficacy after NCT in breast cancer patients.
Results
(1) The levels of Fib and PLT after NCT were significantly higher than pre-NCT values[(3.4±0.8) g/L vs (2.8±0.6) g/L, t=9.012, P<0.001; (245.2±77.7)×109/L vs (193.1±55.2)×109/L,t=8.624,P<0.001]. D-D level after NCT was significantly lower than pre-NCT value [M(P25-P75): 104.0(74.5-162.3) ng/ml vs 112.5(79.8-197.5) ng/ml,Z=-3.790,P<0.001]. There were no significant differences in PT, PT%, PTINR, APTT, APTT ratio and TT before and after NCT (t=-0.223, 0.524,0.347, 0.134,0.348, -1.605, all P>0.050). (2) Before NCT, D-D level in NCT effective group (n=80)was significantly higher than that in non-effective group (n=66) [M(P25-P75): 140.0(90.3-215.8)ng/ml vs 94.5(72.0-168.8)ng/ml,Z=-3.201,P=0.001], while there were no significant differences in PT,PT%, PTINR, APTT, APTT ratio, Fib, TT and PLT(t=4.453,2.891,1.782,1.542,0.736,0.104,1.635,0.054, all P>0.050). (3) After NCT, there were no significant differences in PT, PT%, PTINR, APTT,APTT ratio, Fib, TT, PLT and D-D level between NCT effective group and non-effective group (t=0.112,0.202,0.134, 1.784, 1.125, 0.643, 0.435, 2.892, Z= -0.701, all P >0.05). (4)D-D level was decreased in 92 cases after NCT (61 showed improvement after chemotherapy, with the efficacy of 66.3%).D-D level was increased in 54 cases after NCT (19 showed improvement after chemotherapy, with the efficacy of 35.2%). There was a significant difference in chemotherapy efficacy between D-D-decreased patients and D-D-increased patients(Z=-3.642, P<0.001)after NCT. The changes of PT, PT%, PTINR, APTT, APTT ratio, Fib, TT and PLT were not significantly different between NCT effective group and non-effective group(Z=-0.311, -0.550,-0.214,-0.543,-0.672,-1.583,-0.286,-1.798,all P>0.050).
Conclusions
Coagulation related indexes tend to be abnormal in breast cancer patients. Chemotherapy may lead to increased Fib, decreased D-D and change of PLT level, so it is necessary to monitor these three indexes during chemotherapy. The patients with decreased D-D after NCT are prone to obtain better chemotherapy response.