Abstract
BACKGROUND: Recent data suggest that alterations in the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in the perioperative periods can serve as prognostic factors. However, research on the clinical impact has been limited and even discordant in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC). PATIENTS AND METHODS: The optimal cut-off value of preoperative NLR (NLR-pre), postoperative NLR (NLR-post), and its change (NLR-delta) were determined to maximize differences in overall survival (OS) between groups. Patients were categorized into four groups (NLR-trend) as follows: G1, low NLR-pre and NLR-post; G2, low NLR-pre and high NLR-post; G3, high NLR-pre and low NLR-post; and G4, high NLR-pre and NLR-post. Discriminatory performance was compared using integrated AUC (iAUC) between all indicators. RESULTS: A total of 576 patients diagnosed with stage I-IV CRC were included. The cut-off points were determined as 2.33 for NLR-pre, 2.06 for NLR-post, and -1.08 for NLR-delta. Subgroup dichotomization using NLR-pre, NLR-post, NLR-delta and NLR-trend were all identified as significant prognostic factors by univariate analysis. However, NLR-trend was only remained as an independent prognostic factor in the multivariate analysis. The iAUC of the NLR-trend was superior to that of NLR-pre (bootstrap iAUC mean difference=0.036; 95% CI 0.013-0.073), NLR-post (bootstrap iAUC mean difference=0.045; 95% CI 0.019-0.081) and NLR-delta (bootstrap iAUC mean difference=0.061; 95% CI 0.025-0.104). CONCLUSION: Risk stratification and combining of preoperative and postoperative NLR (NLR-trend) can improve prognostic discrimination compared with single measurements or simple changes in NLR in patients with CRC.