The Systemic Inflammation Marker NLR as a Prognostic Factor in Complicated Colorectal Cancer

Abstract

Many recent scores based on the inflammatory response, such as Neutrophil Lymphocyte Ratio (NLR), Platelet Lymphocyte Ratio (PLR), Lymphocyte Monocyte Ratio (LMR) have been demonstrated to have a prognostic value in cancer patients. The ratio between neutrophils and lymphocytes is a very useful tool, most studies admitting its role as a prognostic marker in cancer. We made a retrospective study on 391 patients hospitalized and operated in emergency for complicated colorectal cancer in the Surgery II clinic of the "St. Ap. Andrei" from Galati, Romania, between 2008-2017. We demonstrated that the increased preoperative value of NLR was a negative prognostic factor for long-term survival in patients with complicated colorectal cancer (HR = 7.581, 95% CI = (6.358,9.039) (p = 0.000000)). The cut-off point is > 2.61, with sensitivity of 73.61 and specificity of 100.00. The mean survival time in patients with NLR < = 2.61 was 39,676, 95% CI = (37,189, 42,163) and in those with NLR > 2.61 it was 12,504, 95% CI = (11,747, 13,261), the difference between the survival time of patients with values ​​above the cutoff and below the cutoff being statistically significant (p = 0.000000, Log-Rank).