The Use of Complete Blood Count as Inflammatory Biomarkers in Patients with Colorectal Cancers in Enugu State University of Science and Technology Teaching Hospital, Parklane Enugu

Full blood count is a prerequisite investigation requested from all colorectal cancer patients before treatment and during treatment and poor parameters adversely influences the outcome of cancers. This present study investigated the use of Complete Blood Count (CBC) and Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate (ESR) as an assessment of inflammation in colorectal cancer subjects. The study comprised of 50 male and female subjects and controls with ages between 21-70 years. A longitudinal study method was used. The samples were collected from apparently healthy individuals as control, pre-treatment at diagnosis and the treatment samples at different stages of the treatment.  Questionnaire used obtained other demographic information. The data was analyzed with IBM SPSS PC. Version 20.0; SPSS Inc., Chicago, III., USA. Results showed increased Neutrophil/Lymphocyte ratio(NLR) and decreased Lymphocyte/Monocyte ratio(LMR) were significantly associated with increased hazard ratio (HR) and decreased OS at p<0.05 while Platelet/Monocyte ratio(PLR) had no significant difference at P>0.05 in Colorectal Cancer. In CBC and ESR, control, pre-treatment and treatment period, RBC parameters and TWBC parameters showed a significant decrease  at p<0.05 in treatment results compared to the pre-treatment and control results while others showed no significant increase at p<0.05 in treatment results compared to pre-treatment results. Treatment RDW and MPV observed a significant increase (p<0.05) compared to the control and pre-treatment results.  Age group 31-40 years showed more susceptibility than other age groups with lowest mean±SD in CBC and ESR but with no significant difference at p>0.05.This present study, about 20% of the data supports the concept that biomarkers such as CBC and ESR can be used as a prognostic tool in early detection, treatment and monitoring the disease progression in these subjects.