Clinical significance of dynamic neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio changes in patients with colorectal cancer

Abstract

Background/Aim: Elevated neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) has been reported to be a poor prognostic factor in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC). However, no studies have focused on the dynamic change of preoperative NLR (pre- NLR) in CRC patients. We investigated the prognostic value of the change in NLR (ΔNLR) in CRC patients before and after surgery. Patients and Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the data from 307 patients with stage II or III CRC. We compared the clinicopathological factors, OS, and DFS among the various NLR factors. Results: The 5-year OS rate of the high ΔNLR group was significantly lower than that of the low ΔNLR group (p<0.01). The 5-year DFS rates of the high ΔNLR groups were worse than those in the low ΔNLR groups. In the multivariate analysis, ΔNLR was an independent prognostic factor (p=0.011). Conclusion: Decreasing post-NLR was related to better OS and DFS even in high pre-NLR patients with CRC.