title: High levels of platelet/lymphocyte ratio are associated with metastatic gastric cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The predictive and prognostic value of cheap, easily accessible and commonly available complete blood count parameters has already been studied in a variety of cancers. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the association between pretreatment platelet/lymphocyte ratio (PLR) and metastatic gastric cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  The records of 228 patients dating from January 2010 to June 2014 were retrospectively evaluated. Patients who had undergone radical (N=157) or palliative gastrectomy (N=71) for metastatic gastric cancer were included and divided into two groups according to stage (early-advanced) and metastasis (absence-presence) status, and PLR values were compared.
  
  
  RESULTS
  38 (16.6%) of 228 patients had early gastric cancer (non metastatic cases). PLR values of advanced gastric cancer (not including metastatic cases) were significantly higher compared to early gastric cancer (231.6±107.45 and 160.3±71.5, respectively; p<0.001). Seventy one (31.1%) of 228 patients had distant metastasis. PLR values of metastatic gastric cancer were significantly higher than in non-metastatic gastric cancer (251.0±94.8 and 192.7±88.8, respectively; p<0.001). Logistic regression analysis showed that PLR was an independent predictive factor for tumor burden in both stage and metastasis groups (p<0.001 and p=0.003, respectively). Also, in correlation analysis, PLR showed mild correlation with stage and metastasis groups (r=0.291 and r=0.299, respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Pretreatment PLR values were correlated with tumor burden, and most higher values were detected in metastatic disease. Our findings may be useful, especially in the decision-making for laparoscopic staging in patients who have no radiological evidence of metastatic disease.
authors.affiliation: Adana Numune Training and Research Hospital, Clinic of General Surgery, Adana, Turkey.
authors.forename: Suleyman
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cetinkunar
authors.forename: Hakan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Guzel
authors.forename: Ismail
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Emre Gokce
authors.forename: Hasan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Erdem
authors.forename: Saygi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gulkan
authors.forename: Recep
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Aktimur
authors.forename: Bertan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kucuk
authors.forename: Inanc
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Imamoglu
authors.forename: Hulagu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kargici
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000097:blood* / Q000556:secondary* / Q000601:surgery; D000368:Aged; D019540:Area Under Curve; D001792:Blood Platelets; D018279:Carcinoma, Signet Ring Cell / Q000097:blood* / Q000556:secondary* / Q000601:surgery; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005260:Female; D005743:Gastrectomy; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D018655:Lymphocyte Count; D008214:Lymphocytes; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010976:Platelet Count; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012372:ROC Curve; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D016896:Treatment Outcome