Abstract
BACKGROUND: Recent studies have suggested a significant relationship between inflammatory indexes such as the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and survival outcomes in various cancers. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the prognostic value of 6 pretreatment inflammatory markers in patients with primary angiosarcoma (AS) which is a rare and highly malignant type of soft tissue sarcoma. METHODS: Fifty-six patients diagnosed with primary AS at West China Hospital between August 2009 and July 2016 were retrospectively enrolled. The value of each biomarker was calculated for its correlation with patients' overall survival. RESULTS: The low tumor grade, tumor size <5 cm, metastatic status, surgical treatment and low level of monocyte-to-lymphocyte ratio, NLR and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) were correlated with better survival outcome in univariate analyses. In multivariate analyses, high levels of NLR (HR 2.673, 95% CI 1.253-5.703, p=0.011) and LDH (HR 2.964, 95% CI 1.464-5.998, p=0.003) were selected as independent prognostic factors. CONCLUSION: This study identifies the elevated pretreatment levels of NLR and LDH as prognostic markers in patients with primary AS.