Korean J Endocr Surg.  2016 Jun;16(2):31-35. 10.16956/kaes.2016.16.2.31.

Clinical Meaning of Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte Ratio (NLR)in Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma

• Shin YI
• Cho JY
• Lee YM
• Sung TY
• Yoon JH
• Chung KW
• Hong SJ

• KMID: 2308567
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.16956/kaes.2016.16.2.31

Abstract

PURPOSE
Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is a marker of systemic inflammatory response, which is inexpensive, easily calculated, and known to show correlation with prognosis of cancer. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between NLR and prognosis of papillary thyroid carcinoma.
METHODS
A total of 1,142 patients who underwent total thyroidectomy for papillary thyroid carcinoma between 1995~2005 at Asan Medical Center were enrolled in this study. Patients were categorized according to two groups based on NLR and clinico-pathological variables and disease survival were compared between the two groups.
RESULTS
Median age of patients was 45.4 years, and the median follow-up period was 48 months. The cut-off value of NLR for prediction of disease-free survival (DFS) was 2. Comparison of DFS between two groups stratified by NLR (NLR ≤2, NLR>2) showed little statistical difference (P=0.48). After adjusting for risk (N stage), there was no significant difference according to N stage (N0: P=0.86, N1a: P=0.4, N1b: P=0.12).
CONCLUSION
NLR did not show correlation with disease free survival of papillary thyroid carcinoma.

Keyword

Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio; Papillary thyroid carcinoma; Disease-free survival

MeSH Terms

Chungcheongnam-do
Disease-Free Survival
Follow-Up Studies
Humans
Prognosis
Thyroid Gland*
Thyroid Neoplasms*
Thyroidectomy

Figure

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  Fig. 1 Disease free survival according to the NLR.

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  Fig. 2 (A) Overall disease free survival (DFS) of pN10/Nx, pN1a and pN1b. (B) DFS according to the Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in pN0 group. (C) DFS according to the NLR in pN1a group. (D) DFS according to the NLR in pN1b group.

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