Elevated platelet count is a negative predictive and prognostic marker in locally advanced rectal cancer undergoing neoadjuvant chemoradiation: a retrospective multi-institutional study on 965 patients.

In locally advanced rectal cancer elevated platelet count before neoadjuvant chemoradiation is a negative predictive and prognostic factor which might help to identify subsets of patients with more aggressive tumors to be proposed for alternative therapeutic strategies.