Neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio is associated with prognosis in patients who underwent potentially curative resection for gastric cancer

Background and ObjectivesThe role of inflammation in cancer development is a well-known phenomenon that may be represented by the neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR). The present research intends to determine the impact of NLR on the survival outcome of patients with gastric cancer (GC), and to evaluate its use as a stratification factor for the staging groups. MethodsData regarding clinical characteristics, surgery, pathology, and follow-up were retrospectively collected from our single-center prospective database. Blood samples were obtained before surgery. ResultsA total of 383 patients (231 males) who underwent gastrectomy with lymphadenectomy were evaluated between 2009 and 2016. NLR established cutoff was 2.44, and patients were divided in NLR 2.44 (hNLR) and <2.44 (lNLR). hNLR patients (38.4% of the cases) had lower disease-free survival and overall survival (OS) compared to lNLR patients (P=0.047 and P=0.045, respectively). Risk stratification according to NLR value was done in same tumor depth (T4 and <T4), stage (III and <III) and lymph node status (N+ and N-) group of patients. The OS was significantly lower when NLR was high in same tumor depth (P=0.032) and stage (P=0.020), but not in same lymph node status patients (P=0.184). In a multivariate analysis, NLR was an independent factor of worse OS (HR 1.50 95%CI 1.27-4.21, P=0.048). ConclusionA high NLR was an independent risk factor for reduced survival in GC patients submitted to potentially curative resection. Calculating NLR is easily reproducible and may be incorporated in pre-operative evaluation.