Prognostic significance of malnutrition in metastatic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

171Background: Disease related symptoms including anorexia, nausea and dysphagia lead patients with esophageal cancer to become malnourished. Malnourishment can result in systemic inflammation, reduced treatment tolerance, poorer quality of life and decreased overall survival. Currently weight loss is the main clinical measure of malnutrition, and thus we set out to evaluate the prognostic utility of alternative screening tools of malnutrition. Methods: Patients with metastatic esophageal squamous cell cancer (MESCC) attending the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, between January 2011 and December 2016, were identified from the institutional gastroesophageal database. Nutritional Risk Score (NRS), Nutritional Risk Index (NRI) and Neutrophil Lymphocyte Ratio (NLR) were calculated and correlated with clinical-pathological variables and survival. Malnutrition was defined as NRS ≥ 3, NRI < 97.5 and NLR ≥ 3. Results: Of the 64 consecutive patients, 30 (47%) presented with de novo metastatic disease and 34 (53%)...