Abstract:

Objective To investigate the relationship between preoperative neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio （NLR） and clinicopathological characteristics， prognosis of patients with ovarian cancer. Methods The clinical data of 165 patients with newly diagnosed ovarian cancer in our hospital were obtained from January 2000 to December 2012. All patients underwent surgery after diagnosed ovarian cancer and followed up until the deadline. The patients were divided into two groups according to the preoperative NLR： low NLR（NLR≤3） and high NLR（NLR＞3）. The clinicopathological characteristics and survivals between the two groups were compared. The risk factors affecting overall survival （OS） and progression-free survival （PFS） in ovarian cancer were analyzed using multivariate Cox regression analysis. Results Compared to the low NLR group， the patients with high NLR had significant correlation with advanced tumor stage， suboptimal surgical， malignant ascites， low hemoglobin and lymphocyte counts， high neutrophil， white blood cell and platelet counts （P＜0.05）. Patients with preoperative NLR＞3 had significantly shorter median OS （28 months vs. 63 months） and PFS （10 months vs. 22 months） compared to those with NLR≤3 （P＜0.001）. The univariate analysis showed that the high risk factors affecting the survival of ovarian cancer including advanced tumor stage， malignant ascites， suboptimal surgical and increased levels of NLR （P＜0.05）. Cox's multivariate analysis showed that preoperative NLR was an independent prognostic factor of PFS （HR：1.130， 95％CI：1.053-1.213， P=0.001） and OS （HR：1.190， 95％CI：1.100-1.288， P＜0.001） in patients with ovarian cancer， along with tumor stage and surgical outcomes. conclusion Preoperative NLR may be an independent prognostic factor of survival in patients with ovarian cancer.