Elevated NLR in gallbladder cancer and cholangiocarcinoma - making bad cancers even worse: results from the US Extrahepatic Biliary Malignancy Consortium

Abstract

Background: Gallbladder and extrahepatic biliary malignancies are aggressive tumors with high risk of recurrence and death. We hypothesize that elevated preoperative Neutrophil-Lymphocyte Ratios (NLR) are associated with poor prognosis among patients undergoing resection of gallbladder or extrahepatic biliary cancers.

Methods: Patients who underwent complete surgical resection between 2000-2014 were identified from 10 academic centers (n=525). Overall (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) were analyzed by stratifying patients with normal (<5) versus elevated (>5) NLR.

Results: Overall, 375 patients had NLR <5 while 150 patients had NLR >5. Median OS was 24.5 months among patients with NLR<5 versus 17.0 months among patients with NLR>5 (p<0.001). NLR was also associated with OS in subgroup analysis of patients with gallbladder cancer. In fact, on multivariable analysis, NLR>5, dyspnea and preoperative peak bilirubin were independently associated with OS in patients with gallbladder cancer. Median RFS was 26.8 months in patients with NLR<5 versus 22.7 months among patients with NLR>5 (p=0.030). NLR>5 was independently associated with worse RFS for patients with gallbladder cancer.

Conclusions: Elevated NLR was associated with worse outcomes in patients with gallbladder and extrahepatic biliary cancers after curative-intent resection. NLR is easily measured and may provide important prognostic information.