The Prognostic Impact of Controlling Nutritional Status (CONUT) in Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma Following Curative Hepatectomy: A Retrospective Single Institution Study

Several studies have examined controlling nutritional status (CONUT), which is one of the useful biomarkers for predicting patients' prognosis following cancer treatment. The aim of this study was to evaluate the value of CONUT as a postoperative prognostic marker in patients with intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) following curative hepatectomy. We retrospectively analyzed 71 patients who underwent curative hepatectomy for ICC between May 2002 and November 2016. Patients were divided into two groups according to their preoperative CONUT score (i.e., CONUT ae 2 or CONUT < 2). The number of patients assigned to the normal, mild, moderate, or severe malnutrition groups was 40, 28, two, and one, respectively. The high CONUT group (CONUT ae 2) consisted of 31 patients (43.7%) and had a poor prognosis with regard to overall survival (OS) (p = 0.0149). A high CONUT score is also identified as one of the independent predictors of poor prognosis in OS (hazard ratio 3.02; 95% confidence interval 1.4-6.8; p = 0.007). However, in the current study, a high CONUT score was not associated with postoperative complications (Clavien-Dindo classification ae III or more). CONUT may be useful for the preoperative assessment of prognosis in patients with ICC who have undergone curative hepatectomy.