Effects of Preoperative Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte and Platelet-to-Lymphocyte Ratios on Survival in Patients with Extrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma

Abstract

Background/aim: As indicators of systemic inflammatory response, the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) predict prognoses for various cancers. This study investigated their prognostic significance in extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ECC).

Patients and methods: We analyzed 120 patients who underwent surgery for ECC between 2000 and 2014. We calculated preoperative NLR and PLR and evaluated their correlations with patients' clinicopathological features and prognosis.

Results: Although high NLR was not associated with worse recurrence-free survival (RFS) (hazard ratio (HR)=1.32, p=0.26), cancer-specific survival (CSS) (HR=1.35, p=0.31) and overall survival (OS) (HR=1.19, p=0.52), high PLR was significantly associated with worse RFS (HR=1.85, p=0.01), CSS (HR=2.38, p=0.002) and OS (HR=1.98, p=0.008). In multivariate analysis, high PLR (HR=1.89, p=0.02) and lymph node metastasis (HR=1.78, p=0.03) were independent prognostic factors for OS. A high PLR had more liver recurrences (p=0.04) and recurrences within 1 year (HR=2.38, p=0.02) than low PLR.

Conclusion: High preoperative PLR was an independent predictor of poor prognosis for patients with ECC who underwent resections.

Keywords: Extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma; neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio; platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio.