Inflammatory Markers and Thromboembolic Risk in Patients with Non-Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer

Abstract

Introduction: Patients with bladder cancer have a high risk of venous thrombosis that represents a key challenge for physicians in the decision-making for initiating anticoagulation therapy. Non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) represents more than 70% of all diagnosed bladder malignancies; therefore, we aimed to evaluate the relationship of the neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR), lymphocyte to monocyte ratio (LMR), and risk of thrombosis by using the International Medical Prevention Registry on Venous Thromboembolism (IMPROVE) score as well as the risk of bleeding by using the IMPROVE Bleeding Risk Assessment Score in a study cohort. Material and Methods: This was a retrospective observational study involving 130 patients who met the inclusion criteria: age > 18 years, stage pTa-pT1 NMIBC. The exclusion criteria were age p p = 0.007) as well as the NLR value (p 3 were at a higher risk of developing venous thromboembolic events, reflected by an IMPROVE score of greater than 4. The IMPROVE and IMPROVE Bleeding Risk Assessment Scores are easy to use, and, complemented with the CBC-derived lymphocyte to monocyte ratio as a prothrombotic marker, could aid in the decision of prophylactic anticoagulation therapy during admission.

Keywords

• IMPROVE
• neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio
• complete blood count
• lymphocyte to monocyte ratio