A retrospective analysis on the impact of preoperative neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio in stage II colon cancer.

Abstract

794 Background: Inflammation has a critical role in tumor genesis and progression of cancer. The neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is an indication of balance between the immune systems pro and defense mechanism against cancer. Elevated NLR is of interest in many cancers, including colon cancer. Although surgery is the mainstay of treatment for early stage colon cancer, adjuvant chemotherapy for stage II colon cancer has remained debatable. We proposed to study the impact of the NLR in patients with stage II colon cancer and to identify high risk patients who would benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy. Methods: Three hundred and eighty patients diagnosed with Stage II colon cancer at our institution were included in this retrospective study. Kaplan-Meir curves and multivariate Cox-regression analyses were calculated for overall survival. Results: Univariate analysis showed NLR was not statistically significant as predictor of mortality (p-value=0.0857). However, after adjusting for recurrence, chemotherapy, age, white blood cell count, the NLR was predictive for survival, with a hazard ratio of 1.05 and 95% confidence interval of (1.006 - 1.1). Recurrence and age were also significant predictors of survival (p-values of <0.0001 for both), and HR of 3.1 (2.0 – 4.6) and 1.4 (1.2 – 1.5), respectively. Conclusions: The neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio might be an independent prognostic marker for overall survival in stage II colon cancer patients. Given the retrospective nature of our study, further studies are indicated to confirm our findings.