Preoperative Platelet-Lymphocyte Ratio Augments CA 19-9 as a Predictor of Malignancy in Chronic Calcific Pancreatitis.

INTRODUCTION: Differentiating inflammatory from malignant head mass in the background of chronic calcific pancreatitis (CCP) is difficult, and there is no investigation which can reliably solve this dilemma. An accurate diagnosis is crucial as the treatment is different for the two cases and a failure to identify malignancy before surgery can be disastrous. We aimed to assess the accuracy of platelet-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) and to compare it with CA 19-9 in determining the nature of pancreatic head mass (PHM).

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Eighty-three patients, who presented with CCP and PHM between 2005 and 2011, were included in the study. Patients identified to have malignancy underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy, while those deemed to have a benign lesion underwent Frey's procedure. Clinical features of both the groups were compared. CA 19-9 and PLR individually and in combination were compared in both groups. Receiver operating characteristic curves were used to analyze the predictive values of CA 19-9 and PLR individually and together.

RESULTS: Histologically, 66.3% had an inflammatory head mass and 33.7% had a malignant head mass. Significant clinical features which predicted a malignancy included the presence of a head mass in CCP of tropics, older age, jaundice, sudden worsening abdominal pain, gastric outlet obstruction, and significant weight loss. Sensitivity and specificity of CA 19-9 and PLR in diagnosing malignancy were similar (85.5 vs. 81.2 and 96.4 vs. 92.8%, respectively), on combining CA 19-9 and PLR, there was an improvement in sensitivity (94.5%).

CONCLUSION: PLR is at least as good as CA 19-9 as a diagnostic marker to differentiate between malignant and inflammatory head mass in CCP. When used together, PLR improves the predictive value of serum CA 19-9.