Abstract:

Objective  To evaluate the value of peripheral blood neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio （NLR） before radiotherapy in evaluating the efficacy and prognosis of senile patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma（ESCC）. Methods One hundred and twenty-eight senile ESCC patients treated with radiotherapy alone or concurrent radiotherapy and chemotherapy were retrospectively analyzed. The relationship between the level of NLR in peripheral blood before radiotherapy and the clinicopathological features and prognosis of ESCC patients was analyzed. Cox proportional hazard regression model was used to analyze the factors affecting total survival （OS）. Results The receiver operator characteristics （ROC） curve showed that the best cut-off value of NLR before radiotherapy was 3.13. One hundred and twenty-eight patients were divided into low NLR group （n=75） and high NLR group （n=53）. The level of NLR before radiotherapy was not related to age， sex， TNM stage and treatment modality （P＞0.05）. The effective rate of radiotherapy was 96.0％ in low NLR group and 69.8％ in high NLR group. The difference was statistically significant （P＜0.05）. Univariate analysis showed that NLR， N stage and TNM stage were the factors affecting OS in elderly patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Multivariate analysis showed that NLR and N staging were independent factors affecting OS in senile ESCC patients. Conclusion The high NLR level suggests that the radiotherapy effect and prognosis of elderly patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma are poor.

Key words:

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma（ESCC）')">"> Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma（ESCC）, Senile, Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, Prognosis