Efficacy of preoperative neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio in determining lymph node metastases in testicular cancer

Abstract

Purpose: Testicular cancer is the most common solid tumor in young men between the ages of 20-35 and has excellent clinical outcomes with appropriate treatment. Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte-ratio (NLR) is related with prognosis and relapse in different solid tumors. We aimed to investigate the relation of presence and size of regional lymph node metastasis with NLR in testicular cancer. Materials and Methods: A total of 72 testicular cancer patients were included in the study. All medical records were retrospectively collected. NLR was calculated as the count of neutrophil divided by the count of lymphocyte. Chest and abdomen computed tomograpy (CT) scans of all patients were evaluated for metastases. Results: The mean age was 32.18±8.89 years. The pathologic classification was seminoma in 43% and nonseminoma in 57% of patients. Of 72 patients, 32 (44.4%) had lymph node positivity and 40 (55.6%) hadnot. The mean NLR value was 2.63±1.79 for all cohort. The mean NLR was significantly lower in patients with lymph node negative disease (for lymph node positive and negative disease 3.19±2.32 and 2.25±1.06, respectively.). In the ROC analysis, 2.5 was determined as the cut-off value for NLR to assess lymph node status. Conclusion NLR is a cheap and readily available index that can be used to determine lymph node metastases in testicular GCTs.

Keywords

• germ cell tumor, testicular cancer, neutrophil lymphocyte ratio, lymph node, metastases
• germ hücreli tümör
• testis kanseri
• nötrofil lenfosit oranı
• lenf nod metastazı