title: Minimum absolute lymphocyte count during radiotherapy as a new prognostic factor for nasopharyngeal cancer.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the minimum absolute lymphocyte count (ALC) during radiotherapy (RT) could predict clinical outcome in patients with nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC).
  
  
  
  We analyzed 70 patients with NPC including 63 patients treated with chemoradiotherapy and used multivariate analysis to determine whether minimum ALC affected clinical outcome.
  
  
  
  Patients were grouped by minimum ALC, with a cutoff of 245 cells/μL. Five-year disease-specific survival (DSS) and progression-free survival (PFS) for patients with minimum ALC ≥245 versus minimum ALC <245 were 88.1% versus 60.8% (p = .004) and 71.2% versus 35.2% (p = .004). All 10 patients with minimum ALC <120 experienced disease progression. Four of 6 patients (67%) with ALC <120 who died experienced disease progression within 6 months.
  
  
  
  Minimum ALC may predict poor 5-year DSS and should be evaluated by prospective studies. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck 38: E1061-E1067, 2016.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Oyeon
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Young-Taek
authors.initials: YT
authors.lastname: Oh
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Mison
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chun
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: O-Kyu
authors.initials: OK
authors.lastname: Noh
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Jae-Sung
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Hoe
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Hwanik
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D018655:Lymphocyte Count; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009303:Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: lymphocyte; minimum value; nasopharyngeal cancer; prognosis; radiotherapy