[Prognostic value of preoperative neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio in the elderly patients over 75 years old with gastric cancer].

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the clinical implication of preoperative neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), and association of NLR with the prognosis of the elderly patients over 75 years old with primary gastric cancer.

METHODS

Clinical data of 160 patients (≥75 years) with gastric cancer undergoing gastrectomy in Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, the Tumour Hsopital of Harbin Medical University form January 2007 to December 2010 were retrospectively analyzed. Preoperative neutrophil and lymphocyte count was measured and NLR was calculated. The cut-off value of NLR to predict the survival was obtained from the receiver operating characteristic(ROC) curve. Patients were divided into two groups based on cut-off value. Clinicopathological features were compared between two groups using Chi-square test or Fisher exact test. Cox proportional hazard model was used to analyze risk factors associated with survival.

RESULTS

The cut-off value of NLR was 1.83 with 0.709 of sensitivity and 0.562 of specificity. A total of 54 patients with NLR<1.83 belonged to NLR-0 group, and 106 patients with NLR≥1.83 belonged to NLR-1 group. As compared to NLR-0 group, patients in NLR-1 group had significantly higher proportion in maximum tumor size ≥ 50 mm [66.0%(70/106) vs. 42.6%(23/54), P=0.004], serosal invasion [75.5%(80/106) vs. 57.4%(31/54), P=0.029], positive lymph node metastasis [83.0% (88/106) vs. 55.6%(30/54), P=0.001] and TNM stage III( [79.2%(84/106) vs. 61.1%(33/54), P=0.013]. The median survival of NLR-0 and NLR-1 group was 1 209 days and 587 days respectively, with significant difference(P=0.001). Multivariate analysis showed that NLR≥1.83(HR=0.530, 95% CI: 0.332 to 0.846, P=0.008), serosal invasion (HR=0.570, 95% CI: 0.332 to 0.979, P=0.042), and lymph node metastasis(HR=0.475, 95% CI: 0.462 to 1.685, P=0.033) were independent risk factors of poor prognosis(all P<0.05).

CONCLUSION

Preoperative higher NLR value in the elderly patients over 75 years old with primary gastric cancer indicates larger tumor size, severe serous invasion, more lymph node metastasis, later TNM staging, and poorer prognosis.