Pretreatment absolute lymphocyte count and neutrophil-To-lymphocyte ratio are prognostic factors for stage iii breast cancer

Abstract

Background/Aim: Stage III breast cancer comprises a broad spectrum of disease, including the extent of supraclavicular/internal mammary lymph node metastasis. In this study, we evaluated the usefulness of the absolute lymphocyte count (ALC) and neutrophil-To-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in predicting the prognosis of patients with stage III breast cancer. Patients and Methods: Seventy-five patients with stage III breast cancer who underwent surgery were included. We compared their clinicopathological factors according to the presence or not of supraclavicular/internal mammary lymph node metastasis, and pretreatment ALC or NLR. Results: Patients with metastasis of the studied lymph nodes had a poorer prognosis in comparison to those without metastasis. In patients without these types of lymph node metastasis, both the ALC and NLR were predictive factors for relapse-free and overall survival. Among these patients, those with a low ALC or high NLR had recurrence-free and overall survival comparable to those of patients with supraclavicular/internal mammary lymph node metastasis. Conclusion: Pretreatment ALC and NLR were prognostic factors for patients with stage III breast cancer.