This paper is in the following e-collection/theme issue:

Letters to the Editor (17) Text-messaging (SMS, WeChat etc)-Based Interventions (749) Patient Education for Cancer (227) Cancer Self-Management (91) Nutrition, Physical Activity, Healthy Lifestyle for Cancer Patients and Survivors (184) mHealth for Patient Education (292) Web-based and Mobile Health Interventions (4013)

Published on in Vol 13 (2025)

Preprints (earlier versions) of this paper are available at https://preprints.jmir.org/preprint/70895, first published .
Clarifying Blood Indices in Patients With Ovarian Cancer

Clarifying Blood Indices in Patients With Ovarian Cancer

Clarifying Blood Indices in Patients With Ovarian Cancer

Authors of this article:

Chengwei Lian1, 2 Author Orcid Image ;   Yu Fan1, 2 Author Orcid Image ;   Jinke Li1 Author Orcid Image
Article Authors Cited by (1) Tweetations Metrics

    1Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, West China Second Hospital, Sichuan University, No 20, Sec 3, Renminnan Road, Sichuan 610041, Chengdu, China

    2Key Laboratory of Birth Defects and Related Diseases of Women and Children, Sichuan University, Ministry of Education, Chengdu, China

    Corresponding Author:

    Jinke Li, PhD



    This letter is regarding the recent publication “Efficacy of a WeChat-Based, Multidisciplinary, Full-Course Nutritional Management Program on the Nutritional Status of Patients With Ovarian Cancer Undergoing Chemotherapy: Randomized Controlled Trial” [1]. The authors reported a novel approach to managing the nutrition status of patients with ovarian cancer who underwent chemotherapy. With supportive results, it might be a potentially beneficial program for this patient cohort. However, there might be a problem in the description of Figure 7.

    The authors described the changes in leukocytes, lymphocytes, neutrophils, and platelets as “inflammation-related blood indices.” It might be appropriate for most patients with normal immune status but is not applicable for those undergoing chemotherapy with bone marrow suppression (BMS) [2]. BMS is one of the most common adverse effects in patients undergoing chemotherapy and can be divided into chemotherapy-induced leukopenia, neutropenia, thrombocytopenia, and anemia [3]. The changes in the blood cells above are not only an indication of inflammatory status but also critical to monitor the BMS in patients. It is important to discuss BMS in treatment using chemotherapy separately or combined with others. Additionally, the authors have reported a systematic inflammatory index, which is more accurate, to evaluate the inflammatory status of patients [4]. As for Figure 7, we noticed a significant decrease in leukocytes, dropping almost to the diagnostic criteria of leukopenia [5] in the control group, which suggests more severe BMS in the control group. So we suggest it might be more accurate to describe Figure 7 simply as “the changes in blood cells,” and the potential benefit for improving BMS should also be described in this section.

    The findings of this study are meaningful and interesting. The authors provided a potential approach to improve the clinical outcomes of patients with ovarian cancer undergoing chemotherapy, especially in China. Additionally, we noticed the intervention could improve BMS for these patients, although it should be described and addressed more accurately in the publication.

    Conflicts of Interest

    None declared.

    1. Tian X, Liu Y, Zhang J, et al. Efficacy of a WeChat-based, multidisciplinary, full-course nutritional management program on the nutritional status of patients with ovarian cancer undergoing chemotherapy: randomized controlled trial. JMIR Mhealth Uhealth. Nov 4, 2024;12:e56475. [CrossRef] [Medline]
    2. Markman M, Kennedy A, Webster K, Peterson G, Kulp B, Belinson J. Combination chemotherapy with carboplatin and docetaxel in the treatment of cancers of the ovary and fallopian tube and primary carcinoma of the peritoneum. J Clin Oncol. Apr 1, 2001;19(7):1901-1905. [CrossRef] [Medline]
    3. Ten Berg MJ, van den Bemt P, Shantakumar S, et al. Thrombocytopenia in adult cancer patients receiving cytotoxic chemotherapy: results from a retrospective hospital-based cohort study. Drug Saf. Dec 1, 2011;34(12):1151-1160. [CrossRef] [Medline]
    4. Hu B, Yang XR, Xu Y, et al. Systemic immune-inflammation index predicts prognosis of patients after curative resection for hepatocellular carcinoma. Clin Cancer Res. Dec 1, 2014;20(23):6212-6222. [CrossRef] [Medline]
    5. Weycker D, Li X, Edelsberg J, et al. Risk and consequences of chemotherapy-induced febrile neutropenia in patients with metastatic solid tumors. J Oncol Pract. Jan 2015;11(1):47-54. [CrossRef] [Medline]

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    BMS: bone marrow suppression

    Edited by Tiffany Leung; This is a non–peer-reviewed article. submitted 05.01.25; accepted 24.07.25; published 13.08.25.

    Copyright

    © Chengwei Lian, Yu Fan, Jinke Li. Originally published in JMIR mHealth and uHealth (https://mhealth.jmir.org), 13.8.2025.

    This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in JMIR mHealth and uHealth, is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on https://mhealth.jmir.org/, as well as this copyright and license information must be included.