AbstracBackground: Various prognostic factors have been studied to predict the survival of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) during last decades. In many types of malignancies, thrombocytosis has been reported and studied as a prognostic factor. The objective of present study was to evaluate the significance of thrombocytosis in determining prognosis in patients with localised RCC who underwent radical nephrectomy. Material and methods: The study included 100 consecutive patients. Patients were divided into a normal platelet count group (group A) and a thrombocytosis group (group B) according to the preoperative platelet count. Thrombocytosis was defined as a platelet count greater than 450,000/mm³. The data about stage distribution, grade, tumor size, histological subtype, hemoglobin level, Body Mass Index (BMI), age, gender, and survival rate of tumors between these two groups were compared. Results: The mean age of the patients was 58.9 years and the mean follow-up period was 52.7 months. Of these 100 patients, 19 had a preoperative platelet count greater than 450,000/mm³ (group B). The mean age of the patients with thrombocytosis was 56.4 ±7.79 years compared with 61.5±8.29 years in patients with normal platelet counts (p<0.05). Thrombocytosis was noted in 7 (10.93%) of 64 patients with stage pT1-T2 disease and in 12 (30%) of 36 patients with stage pT3-T4 disease. Patients with thrombocytosis had a worse prognosis than patients without thrombocytosis. Conclusion: The platelet count can be considered a useful prognostic factor in patients with RCC who undergo radical nephrectomy.

Keywords: Thrombocytosis, Renal cell carcinoma, Radical nephrectomy, prognosis.