The Clinical Significance of Preoperative Serum Neutrophil-Lymphocyte Ratio (NLR) in Papillary Thyroid Cancer Patients

Ohe, Haengjin; Chang, Yeo Goo; Hong, Seong Woo; Lee, Woo Yong; Lee, Byungmo

Abstract

PURPOSE
Papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) is known to have a favorable prognosis and low mortality. However, some PTC has aggressive propensity with loco-regional recurrence or distant metastasis, and it could cause poor quality of life. Many studies for predicting high-risk group in papillary thyroid cancer have been reported, however, more study is needed. The objective of this study is to assess the efficiency of inflammation indices including the Neutrophil-Lymphocyte Ratio (NLR) as a predictor for high-risk group in papillary thyroid cancer patients.
METHODS
From January 2006 to November 2012, this study enrolled consecutive 164 patients who underwent total thyroidectomy and were confirmed with papillary thyroid cancer by histopathology. Among 164 patients, 23 were excluded because they had co-morbidities which could confound the inflammation related variables. We reviewed the medical records of 141 patients and assessed the correlation between inflammation indices including preoperative serum NLR and clinical prognostic parameters, including age at presentation, tumor size, extra-thyroidal extension, lymph node metastasis, TNM stage, and MACIS score.
RESULTS
In the papillary thyroid cancer patients, preoperative value of NLR, ESR, CRP, platelet, and albumin showed no significant correlation with the risk factors.
CONCLUSION
In this study, preoperative inflammatory parameters such as NLR had uncertain efficacy as risk factors for papillary thyroid cancer.