Abstract
BACKGROUND: Breast cancer is one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers, and the fourth leading cause of cancer deaths in females worldwide. Activated platelets play a key role in tumor growth and tumor metastasis. Platelet distribution width (PDW) is a platelet index, and is altered in patients with malignancies. The aim of this study was to explore whether PDW can effectively predict death outcome of breast cancer patients. STUDY DESIGN: The clinical data of 271 breast cancer patients in our hospital between January 2009 and December 2009 were retrospectively analyzed. Survival analysis was performed using the log-rank test and Cox proportional hazards regression analysis. RESULT: There were significant correlations between increased PDW and tumor size, molecular subtype, differentiation grade, and cancer stages (T, N, or TNM). Moreover, survival analysis revealed that the overall survival of patients with PDW > 16.8%, which was significantly shorter than those with PDW ⩽ 16.8%. Multivariate analysis indicated that PDW > 16.8% predicts a poor overall survival of breast cancer patients. CONCLUSIONS: Elevated PDW may serve as a marker of adverse prognosis in breast cancer. However, these data are preliminary and should be interpreted with caution pending validation by additional clinical and molecular/genomics studies in various populations.