White blood cell count in colorectal cancer patients : a retrospective study in KHMC

Abstract EN

Objectives: To assess white blood cell count (WBC) in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients in King Hussein Medical Center and determine if there is an association between high WBC count as an inflammatory marker and CRC and to find any difference in the pattern of the disease in CRC patients who have leukocytosis.

Methods: A retrospective study will be conducted on CRC patients in colorectal surgery department at KHMC over the period from May 2014 to January 2018 with a total number of patients 247.

We will refer to these patients’ records in Princess Iman Center for Research and Laboratory Sciences to find their WBC count at presentation before surgery, then we will analyze the data to determine if there is any association between high WBC count and CRC and if there is a common findings among these patients.

Results: A 247 patients with CRC were studied, the age range was 19-85 years, 123 of the patients were males and 124 were females with a male to female ratio almost 1:1.

WBC count ranged from 3.6x103/µLto 21.2x103/µL.

43 patients had high WBC count (leukocytosis) which constitute about 17.4% of all patients.

22 of these 43 patients were males (51%) and 21 were females (49%).

Conclusion: CRC sometimes associated with increased WBC count, and this may affect the pattern of the disease in patients who have leukocytosis, further comprehensive studies are needed to confirm the effect of leukocytosis on prognosis and the role of WBC as an early screening marker for CRC patient.