Nutrition and immune blood markers predict survival in gallbladder cancer

Patients with better blood nutrition scores lived longer after surgery for gallbladder cancer, in a study of 1,312 patients.

• Patients scoring 48 or higher on the prognostic nutritional index, a score from two blood tests, survived longer.
• That group had 10% better survival at 3 years and 13.2% better at 5 years.
• Median overall survival for the whole group was 28.6 months.

This was a look back at one cancer center’s records, and the score cutoff was picked from the same data. It shows a link, not proof that improving nutrition would extend survival.

• The study did not test nutrition support, so it cannot show that treating low scores would help.