Prognostic Significance of Neutrophil-To-Lymphocyte and Platelet-To-Lymphocyte Ratios in Epithelial Ovarian Cancer

Abstract

Objective: This study aims to investigate the prognostic value of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) in epithelial ovarian cancer. Methods: This is a retrospective analysis of 116 patients who were diagnosed with epithelial ovarian tumors at the study center between January 2012 and December 2018. Results: The patients with stage 1 ovarian cancer had significantly lower NLR and PLR values than the patients with stage 2 disease (p=0.002 and p<0.0001). The patients with stage 2 ovarian cancer had significantly lower PLR values than the patients with stage 3 disease (p<0.0001). The NLR and PLR values were significantly higher in the patients with lymphovascular invasion and patients with omentum involvement (p<0.0001 for all). The patients with lymph node involvement, residual tumor and ascites had significantly higher PLR values (p=0.0004, p=0.04 and p=0.007 respectively). The patients with tumor recurrence had significantly higher NLR and PLR values (p<0.0001 for both). The patients with tumor recurrence after chemotherapy had significantly higher NLR and PLR values (p=0.02 and p=0.03 respectively). However, the patients who survived had significantly lower NLR and PLR values (p=0.04 and p=0.06 respectively). Both NLR and PLR values could be used to predict lymphovascular invasion, omentum involvement, and tumor recurrence (p<0.05 for all). Serum CA-125 levels correlated with NLR and PLR values positively and significantly (r=0.335, p<0.0001 and r=0.218, p<0.0001 respectively). Conclusions: Despite the fact that the actual prognostic cut-off values remain unspecified, NLR and PLR might act as complementary tools for other prognostic factors related to epithelial ovarian tumors. Keywords: blood platelets; lymphocytes; neutrophils; ovarian epithelial cancer; prognosis Special Issue of Health Sciences DOI: 10.7176/JSTR/6-03-13