Prognostic Value of the Neutrophil to Lymphocyte Ratio (NLR) in Lung Cancer Cases

Abstract

<br /> <span style="font-size: small;">Haemogram assessment is a cheap and easy method which can be readily performed for almost all patients. Leucocyte, </span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;">neutrophil and lymphocyte counts and the neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) are markers of systemic inflammation. </span></span><span style="font-size: small;">We here aimed to evaluate haemogram parameters of our patients with lung cancer according to the pathologic diagnosis of small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). </span><strong><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;">Materials and Methods: </span></span></strong><span style="font-size: small;">The study included 386 patients diagnosed with lung cancer in our hospital between January 2006 and January 2014. A retrospective examination was made of the data from the patient records and the hospital information. NLR values were categorised </span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;">into two groups: </span><strong><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;">Results: </span></span></strong><span style="font-size: small;">Median survival time in patients aged <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;">aged ≥65 years, it was 18.4 months (p<0.001). The median survival time was 20.2 months in NSCLC and 13.0 months </span></span><span style="font-size: small;">in SCLC patients (p<0.001). In NSCLC cases with NLR<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;">that of patients with NLR≥3 (18 months) (p=0.003). In SCLC patients, no relationship could be found between NLR and median survival time (p=0.408). With every 1 unit increase in lymphocyte count a 5.5% decrease in risk of periodic death ((1/0.947)x100=5.5%) was noted. </span></span><span style="font-size: medium;">Conclusion: </span><span style="font-size: small;">The results of this study demonstrated that lymphocyte count, neutrophil count, Hb, Htc, and NLR are useful in determining prognosis in lung cancer (LC) patients and NLR could </span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;">be more significant in determining the prognosis in NSCLC than in SCLC cases. </span></span></span></span></span>