The prognostic impact of preoperative HALP score in colorectal cancers

Aim: To evaluate the diagnostic performance of the preoperatively calculated HALP score in predicting prognostic pathological factors in patients with colorectal cancer. Material and Method: This retrospective cohort study included 140 patients who underwent surgery for colorectal cancer between January 2020 and January 2025. The preoperative HALP score was calculated using the formula (hemoglobin × albumin × lymphocyte / platelet). The diagnostic performance of the HALP score in predicting metastatic lymph nodes, perineural invasion, lymphovascular invasion, and distant organ metastasis was assessed using ROC analysis. Results: The median HALP score of the patients was 18.2. The HALP score was significantly lower in the presence of metastatic lymph nodes, perineural invasion, lymphovascular invasion, and distant organ metastasis. ROC analysis revealed that the diagnostic performance of the HALP score was excellent for predicting metastatic lymph node involvement, good for perineural invasion and distant metastasis, and moderate for lymphovascular invasion. Multivariate analyses identified the HALP score as an independent predictor for distant organ metastasis, perineural invasion, and metastatic lymph node ratio. Conclusion: The HALP score is a strong biomarker for predicting prognostic pathological factors in colorectal cancer patients. Its excellent performance in predicting metastatic lymph node involvement suggests that it may be useful in preoperative risk assessment and treatment planning. Keywords: Colorectal cancer , HALP score, Lymph node metastasis, Prognostic factors