Brit J Cancer: The prognostic significance of the ratio of pre-radiation neutral granulocytes to lymphocytes in patients with oral pharyngeal cancer.

A recent study published in British Journal of Cancer, an authoritative journal in the field of oncology, aims to assess the prognostic value of the ratio of neutral granulocytes to lymphocytes (NLRs) in patients with oral and pharynx cancer.
the study included patients who completed oral and pharynx cancer radiotherapy (RT) between 2002 and 2013 and had blood counts before RT.
NLR as the total number of neutral granulocytes/lymphocytes.
researchers used the Kaplan-Meier method to estimate survival rates and used linear and Cox regression methods for single- and multivariable analysis.
researchers performed a post-mortem analysis of the NLR and divided it into second-class rates based on the median found.
researchers analyzed 484 patients.
NLR before RT is 3.
the total survival rate (OS) of patients with NLR-lt;3 was higher than that of NLR≥3 (5-year OS was 85 vs. 74%, p.lt;0.0001).
OS differences are still significant when layered according to HPV condition (HPV-positive p=0.011; HPV-negative p=0.003).
patients with NLR-lt;3 did not have any recurrence (FFR), local area control (LRC), and no distant recurrence (FDR).
NLR elevation before RT has a negative effect on OS (HR=1.64, p=0.001), in multivariable analysis, FFR (HR=1.6, p=0.006) and LRC (HR=1.8, p=0.005) are still significant.
, rt pre-NLR is an independent prognostic factor for patients with oral and pharynx cancer, independent of HPV status.
patients with lower NLR have better OS and the disease is better controlled.
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