Clinical significance of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio as a predictor of lymph node metastasis in gastric cancer

Abstract Background Precise staging is indispensable to select the appropriate treatment strategy for gastric cancer (GC); however, the diagnostic accuracy of conventional modalities needs to be improved. This study investigated the clinical significance of the preoperative neutrophil-to-lymphocyte...

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Main Authors: Toshiyuki Kosuga, Tomoki Konishi, Takeshi Kubota, Katsutoshi Shoda, Hirotaka Konishi, Atsushi Shiozaki, Kazuma Okamoto, Hitoshi Fujiwara, Michihiro Kudou, Tomohiro Arita, Ryo Morimura, Yasutoshi Murayama, Yoshiaki Kuriu, Hisashi Ikoma, Masayoshi Nakanishi, Eigo Otsuji
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMC 2019-12-01
Series:BMC Cancer
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1186/s12885-019-6404-8
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Summary:Abstract Background Precise staging is indispensable to select the appropriate treatment strategy for gastric cancer (GC); however, the diagnostic accuracy of conventional modalities needs to be improved. This study investigated the clinical significance of the preoperative neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) for the prediction of pathological lymph node metastasis (pN+) in GC. Methods This was a retrospective study of 429 patients with GC who underwent curative gastrectomy. The predictive ability of NLR for pN+ was examined in comparison with that of computed tomography. Results The preoperative NLR ranged from 0.6 to 10.8 (median, 2.0), and the optimal cut-off value for predicting pN+ was 1.6 according to the receiver operating characteristic curve with the maximal Youden index. Multivariate analysis identified a NLR ≥ 1.6 (odds ratio (OR) 3.171; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.448–7.235, p = 0.004) and cN+ (OR 2.426; 95% CI 1.221–4.958, p = 0.011) to be independent factors associated with pN+ in advanced GC (cT2-T4). On the other hand, a NLR ≥ 1.6 was not useful for predicting pN+ in early GC (cT1). In advanced GC, a NLR ≥ 1.6 detected pN+ with a higher sensitivity (84.9%) and negative predictive value (NPV) (63.9%) than conventional modalities (50.0 and 51.7%, respectively). When the subjects were limited to those with advanced GC with cN0, the sensitivity and NPV of a NLR ≥ 1.6 for pN+ increased further (90.7 and 81.0%, respectively). Conclusion The preoperative NLR may be a useful complementary diagnostic tool for predicting pN+ in advanced GC because of its higher sensitivity and NPV than conventional modalities.
ISSN:1471-2407