Lack of prognostic value of blood parameters in patients receiving adjuvant radiotherapy for breast cancer

Abstract

Aim: To determine prognostic value of blood parameters on overall and progression-free survival in cases received adjuvant radiotherapy and chemotherapy with diagnosis of stage I-III breast cancer. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively reviewed files of 350 patients with non-metastatic breast cancer who were treated in the Radiation Oncology Department of Kayseri Teaching Hospital between 2005 and 2010. Pretreatment white blood cell (WBC), neutrophil, monocyte, basophil and eosinophil counts, and the neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet lymphocyte ratio (PLR) were recorded. The relationship between clinicopathological findings and blood parameters was assessed. Results: Overall, 344 women and 6 men were recruited. Median age was 55.3±0.3 years (range: 22-86). Of the cases, 243 (61.4%) received radiotherapy while 329 (94.3%), received chemotherapy and 215 (61.4%) received hormone therapy. Mean overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) was 84.4 and 78.8 months, respectively. During follow-up, 48 patients died due to either disease-related or non-related causes. Local recurrence was detected in 14 cases, while distant metastasis was noted in 45 cases. In univariate analysis, age, pathology, perinodal invasion were significantly associated with overall survival, whereas gender, stage and hormone therapy were significantly associated with progression-free survival. In multivariate analysis, histopathological diagnosis (OR: 0.3; 95%: 0.1-0.7; p=0.006) and perinodal invasion (OR: 0.1; 95% CI: 0.1-1.3; p=0.026) were significantly associated with overall survival, whereas tumor stage (OR: 2.1; 95% CI: 0.0-0.7; p=0.014) and hormone therapy (OR: 2.1; 95%: 1.2-3.8; p=0.010) were significantly associated with progression-free survival. Conclusions: It was found that serum inflammatory markers including WBC, neutrophil, lymphocyte and monocyte counts, and NLR and PLR had no effect on prognosis in patients with breast cancer who underwent surgery and received adjuvant radiotherapy and chemotherapy.