Relationship between Wilkins echocardiographic score and neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio in patients with rheumatic mitral stenosis

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Wilkins echocardiography score (WS) is commonly used for patients with rheumatic mitral stenosis (RMS) to evaluate their eligibility for percutaneous mitral balloon valvuloplasty (PMBV) treatment. Patients with WS of higher than 11 are not eligible for PMBV treatment. Previous studies demonstrated that inflammation might play a role in RMS progression. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (N/L ratio), which is an indicator of inflammation in predicting high WS. MATERIALS and METHODS: In this retrospective study, we investigated 115 patients (93 females, 22 males) with moderate to severe RMS. Transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiography reports were analysed. Patients were divided into two groups according to their Wilkins scores. Patients with a WS ≤ 11 were included in Group 1 and those with a WS >11 were included in Group 2. The echocardiographic and haematological parameters of the groups were compared. RESULTS: Group 1 consisted of 72 patients (mean age 43.7±12.0) and group 2 consisted of 43 patients (mean age 52.7±11.3). In Group 1, the mean WS was 7.4±2.0 while it was 12.4±0.7 in Group 2. The N/L ratio was 3.8±0.5 in Group 2 and it was significantly higher than that of Group 1, which was 2.6±0.9 (p 11 in patients with RMS.