Published in:
01-06-2016 | Original Article
High preoperative neutrophil–lymphocyte ratio predicts biochemical recurrence in patients with localized prostate cancer after radical prostatectomy
Published in: World Journal of Urology | Issue 6/2016
Login to get accessAbstract
Purpose
To investigate the association between preoperative neutrophil–lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and oncological outcomes in patients with localized prostate cancer (PCa) after radical prostatectomy (RP).
Methods
We retrospectively reviewed the records of 1367 patients who underwent RP between November 2003 and April 2012. Patients who underwent a concurrent biopsy/procedure in other organs, had evidence of acute infection, or had systemic inflammatory disease were excluded. We divided the patients by NLR level and analyzed their perioperative outcomes. To determine NLR significance, we performed a multivariate logistic regression analysis of the pathological adverse outcomes and a Cox proportional hazard analysis of the biochemical recurrence (BCR), which was defined as a prostate-specific antigen level ≥0.2 ng/mL on two consecutive tests.
Results
Among the 1367 patients, 158 (11.6 %) in the high-NLR (≥2.5) group had a higher biopsy Gleason score (p < 0.001), pathological Gleason score (p < 0.001), and pathological stage (p < 0.001) than patients in the low-NLR (<2.5) group (n = 1209, 88.4 %). Multivariate analysis revealed that high NLR was significantly correlated with adverse pathological outcomes of higher pathological stage (HR 1.688; 95 % CI 1.142–2.497; p = 0.009) and extracapsular extension (HR 1.698; 95 % CI 1.146–2.516; p = 0.008). Kaplan–Meier analysis showed significantly worse BCR-free survival (p < 0.001) in patients with a high NLR. A high NLR was a significant predictor of BCR after RP (HR 1.358; 95 % CI 1.008–1.829; p = 0.044).
Conclusions
High NLR was significantly related to unfavorable clinicopathological outcomes and worse BCR-free survival. Further studies are needed to clarify the correlation between NLR and PCa.