Neutrophil to Lymphocyte Ratio as a predictor of early penile prosthesis implant infection

To investigate the predictive value of preoperative serum neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) on the development of postoperative infections in patients undergoing penile prosthesis implantation (PPI). We retrospectively analyzed the data of 361 patients who underwent PPI over a 4-year period with at least 1-year follow-up. Demographics, blood results, and postoperative 1-year complications were recorded. Recommended cutoff values of NLR for early postoperative infectious complications were determined using receiver operating characteristic analysis. A total of 153 patients with the mean age of 56.4 +/- 8 years were included in the study. Mean follow-up time was 56.7 +/- 30.4 months (12-108 months). Early postoperative infectious complications were occured in 18 patients (11.8%). These infections were prosthesis infection in 8 patients (5.2%), wound infection in 6 patients (3.9%), and urinary tract infection in 4 patients (2.6%). All these complications were occured within the first year of the surgery. Mean NLR was statistically higher in patients with postoperative complications when compared with uncomplicated cases (7.2 +/- 3.9 vs. 2.2 +/- 1.4, p < 0.001, respectively) Using a cut point of 6.2, preoperative NLR predicted postoperative complications with a sensitivity of 67% and specificity of 99%. This study is the first to investigate the relationship between NLR and early postoperative infection as a complication of PPI. The results demonstrated that the NLR value could be a potential laboratory parameter for predicting early postoperative infectious complications in patients undergoing PPI.