Background

We aimed to determine the prognostic significance of pretreatment plasma fibrinigen in patients with oral and oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OOSCC).

Methods

A cohort of 183 patients with locally advanced OOSCC receiving preoperative chemoradiotherapy was retrospectively examined. Using ROC curve analysis, a pretreatment plasma fibrinogen cutoff value of 447mg/dL was determined. The primary endpoints were overall survival and recurrence-free survival. A secondary endpoint was to determine whether pretreatment plasma fibrinogen could predict treatment response to neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy. Cox regression models and Kaplan-Meier curves were used for survival analyses.

Results

Seventy-one patients had an elevated pretreatment plasma fibrinogen (fibrinogen >447mg/dL). Patients with high fibrinogen showed significantly higher pathologic stages after neoadjuvant treatment than those with low fibrinogen (p = 0.037). In univariate analysis, elevated fibrinogen was associated with poor overall survival (p = 0.005) and recurrence-free survival (p = 0.008) Multivariate analysis revealed that elevated fibrinogen remained an independent risk factor for death (hazard ratio 1.78, 95% CI 1.09-2.90, p = 0.021) and relapse (hazard ratio 1.78, 95% CI 1.11-2.86, p = 0.016).

Conclusion

Elevated pretreatment plasma fibrinogen is associated with lack of response to neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy and reduced OS and RFS in patients with OOSCC. Thus, plasma fibrinogen may emerge as a novel prognostic indicator and a potential therapeutic target in OOSCC.