The Pretreatment Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte Ratio is a Prognostic Determinant of T3–4 Hypopharyngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma

This study aimed to investigate the clinicopathological factors that influence recurrence and survival in patients who undergo operations for T3–4 hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs).

One hundred and five patients who underwent surgery between 2001 and 2008 for advanced hypopharyngeal SCCs were consecutively enrolled and reviewed.

The pretreatment neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR; median 3.22, range 0.62–46.50) was associated with disease recurrence and patient survival. A difference in the 5-year cumulative disease recurrence rate between patients with high (≥3.22) and low (<3.22) NLRs was significant (60.4 and 36.5%, respectively; p = 0.004). A multivariate analysis confirmed that an NLR ≥3.22 was an independent indicator of a poor prognosis for advanced hypopharyngeal SCC, as per the following parameters: overall survival (hazard ratio [HR] 2.53, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.48–4.30, p = 0.001), disease-specific survival (HR 2.45, 95% CI 1.38–4.34, p = 0.002), and disease-free survival (HR 2.18, 95% CI 1.24–3.83, p = 0.007). Additional prognostic factors per the survival analyses included lymph node density, surgical margin, lymphovascular invasion, and perineural invasion.

An NLR ≥3.22 is associated with a higher risk of disease recurrence and poor survival in patients with T3–4 hypopharyngeal SCCs. We propose the use of the NLR to broaden the current TNM staging system; the development of a more effective treatment protocol for patients with high NLRs will be essential.