Abstract
BACKGROUND: The Inflammatory burden Index (IBI) is an effective predictor for a range of malignancies. However, the significance of IBI in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) needs to be further verified. The aim of this study was to verify the predictive power of IBI in ESCC undergoing radical resection. METHODS: The current retrospective study, which comprised 408 ESCC patients randomized into either the primary or validation cohort, evaluated the relationships between IBI, clinical characteristics, and cancer-specific survival (CSS). Additionally, the nomogram model was also constructed and verified. RESULTS: The IBI is significantly related to tumor length, vessel invasion, perineural invasion, and TNM stage. Compared to other hematological indices, the decision curve analyses (DCA) and receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) confirmed the higher prognostic value of IBI, indicating the better clinical applicability. In patients with high IBI compared to the low IBI cohort, the 5-year CSS was considerably worse (total: 27.0% vs. 59.1%, P < 0.001; primary: 25.0% vs. 58.9%, P < 0.001; validation: 31.7% vs. 59.7%, P = 0.002). The IBI was shown to be an independent parameter by multivariate analyses (primary: HR = 2.352, P < 0.001; validation: HR = 1.683, P = 0.045). Finally, with the C-index of 0.675 (0.656-0.695) in the primary set and 0.662 (0.630-0.694) in the validation set for CSS in ESCC, an IBI-based nomogram was created and validated. CONCLUSION: The predictive significance of IBI in ESCC patients undergoing radical resection was validated by this investigation. IBI may be utilized for preoperative evaluation of ESCC as it was found to be substantially correlated with prognosis.