Assessment of Prognostic Nutritional Index as a Preoperative Prognostic Indicator in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma: A Retrospective Study at a Tertiary Centre in India

The objective of this study was to calculate prognostic nutritional index (PNI) in patients treated for oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and to investigate the predictive value of PNI.

A total of 127 patients with OSCC who had undergone surgical therapy with or without adjunctive chemotherapy, radiotherapy or both from the year 2018 to 2020 at our tertiary centre were included in the study. The markers utilised to determine PNI were the lymphocyte count and serum albumin level, which were acquired before surgery. Using the Mann–Whitney test, the relationship between PNI and survival status was determined. To assess the correlation between PNI and clinicopathological characteristics, the Chi-square test was employed.

According to receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, the optimum cut-off PNI was 45.9. There was a statistically significant correlation seen between PNI with nodal status. When mean PNI scores were compared depending on survival status (3–5 years), patients who survived had a mean PNI of 46.23, whereas those who did not had a mean PNI of 41.23.

Patients with PNI ≤ 45.9 had a poorer overall survival rate than those with a greater PNI. Therefore, PNI is a robust prognostic indicator for OSCC.