Abstract: ObjectiveTo explore the prognostic value of preoperative platelet-lymphocyte ratio （PLR）in patients with gastric cancer. Methods In this study， 184 gastric cancer patients from September 2008 to December 2009 in our hospital were selected as research objects. Accoding to whether PLR＜150， patients were divided into low PLR group（＜150） for 125 cases and high PLR group（≥150）for 59 cases. The clinicopathological characteristics， postoperative 1-， 2-，5-year survival rates and disease free survival rates of two groups were compared. The prognostic factors were evaluated by Cox multivariate analysis. Results Compared with low PLR group, deeper tumor invasion， more lymph node metastasis，more advanced TNM stage and lower serum albumin level were observed in high PLR group（P＜0.05）. The 1- ， 2- ， 5-year survival rates of high PLR group and low PLR group were 52.56％， 42.4％， 23.7％ and 84.8％， 72.0％， 49.5％，respectively， with statistical differences （P=0.002）. 1- ， 2- ，5- year disease free survival rates of high PLR group and low PLR group were 52.56％、42.4％、23.7％ and 84.8％、72.0％、49.5％， with statistical differences（P＜0.001）. In univariate analysis， PLR， tumor invasion， lymph node metastasis， TNM stage， age and serum albumin were associated with overall survival（OS） and disease free survival（DFS）（P＜0.05）. In Cox multivariate analysis， TNM stage was independent prognostic indicator of OS（HR=6.344，95％CI：4.125-9.757，P＜0.001），and TNM stage， PLR and albumin were independent prognostic indicators of DFS（HR=4. 600，95％CI：3.272-6.468，P＜0001；HR=1.630，95％CI：1.070-2.483，P=0.023；HR=0.470，95％CI：0.259-0.853，P=0.013）. Conclusion PLR is independent prognostic indicator of DFS in patients with gastric cancer. The prognosis implication of PLR for OS remains to be further confirmed.