Abstract
Objective: To evaluate the prognostic value of lymphocyte to monocyte ratio (LMR) and PET scan performed after first two cycles of chemotherapy (PET-2) in Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) . Methods: The clinical data of 133 patients with HL diagnosed from January 2007 to March 2016 at the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, were retrospectively analyzed. The X-tile software was used to calculate the optimal cut-off value of LMR. Kaplan-Meier method and Cox regression were used for survival analysis. Results: The median age of 133 HL patients was 33 (18-84) years, and the male to female ratio was 1.9∶1. The optimal cut-off value of LMR was 2.5, and progression free survival (PFS) (P<0.001) and overall survival (OS) (P<0.001) were significantly lower in the LMR<2.5 group than that of LMR≥2.5. Multivariate survival analysis showed that LMR<2.5 was an independent predictor of PFS (P=0.002, HR=2.35, 95%CI 1.36-4.07) and OS (P=0.002, HR=10.36, 95%CI 2.35-45.66) in HL patients. The analysis of PET-2 from 56 HL patients showed that PET-2 positive patients had significantly poorer PFS (P=0.022) . After grouping LMR combined with PET-2, significant differences were found in PFS and OS between the three groups (P values were 0.009 and 0.012) . Conclusion: LMR<2.5 is an independent prognostic factor for patients with HL. PET-2 combined with LMR may have better prognostic value.