Pretreatment leukocytosis is an indicator of poor prognosis in patients with cervical cancer

Abstract Objectives The aim of this study was to investigate the prognostic value of pretreatment leukocytosis in patients with cervical cancer in relation to well-established conventional risk factors. Methods The baseline characteristics and outcome data from 536 patients treated for cervical cancer between 1996 April to 2007 March were collected and reviewed. Cox proportional hazards regression model was used to identify independent prognostic factors for overall survival. Subsequently, the prognostic significance of pretreatment WBC count was prospectively investigated in 156 patients newly diagnosed cervical cancer from 2007 April to 2010 March. Results In a retrospective analysis, patients with leukocytosis (WBC≥10,000/μl) showed significantly higher treatment failure rate (P Conclusion Pretreatment leukocytosis is an independent prognostic factor in patients with cervical cancer. Our finding can be used to identify patients with poor prognosis and to design future tailored clinical trials.