Preoperative hemoglobin, albumin, lymphocyte, and platelet (HALP) score for predictive utility in patients undergoing elective supratentorial craniotomy

BACKGROUND: Elective supratentorial craniotomies may affect short-term prognoses. This study investigates the utility of the preoperative Hemoglobin, Albumin, Lymphocyte, and Platelet (HALP) score for predicting patient outcomes following such procedures. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed patients who underwent elective supratentorial craniotomy at a single center between January 2018 and August 2022. Outcomes were categorized as favorable or unfavorable according to survival and the occurrence of major complications. The HALP score was calculated from preoperative blood samples collected within 24 hours before surgery. Postoperative evaluation encompassed monitoring of complications, cognitive function using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), and neurological status assessed with the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS). RESULTS: < 0.001). Multivariate analysis confirmed that lower values of HALP components independently increased the risk of poor prognosis. The receiver operator characteristic (ROC) analysis showed that the HALP score (AUC = 0.841) was better as a predictor of poor prognosis than its component alone, with an optimal intersection value of 69.42 (sensitivity = 0.84, specificity = 0.747). Patients with a low HALP score also experienced less than ideal perioperative outcomes, including longer surgery times, more blood loss, longer hospital stays, and higher rates of neurological dysfunction, consciousness disorders, and infections. CONCLUSIONS: Preoperative HALP score can predict the short-term outcome of patients undergoing elective supratentorial neurosurgery.