title: Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio may be associated with the outcome in patients with prostate cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Evidences have shown that neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) has a prognostic value in patients with cancer. We wanted to test the prognostic significance of NLR in prostatic cancer of patients who are candidate to radical prostatectomy.
  
  
  METHODS
  We have considered 731 patients. Complete demographic data including age, tumor stage, Gleason score, complete blood count and serum biochemical profile were collected. Pre-treatment percentage of neutrophils and NLR were considered, and correlated with patients data and recurrence free survival.
  
  
  RESULTS
  389 patients were evaluated, mean age 65 years, mean follow-up 51.5 months, mean recurrence free survival 51.3 months. Total neutrophil count does not correlate with biochemical recurrence and disease free survival. Patients with a value higher of 60% of neutrophils are more likely to have a recurrence. Patients with a total lymphocyte count <1,500 have a higher rate of relapse. NLR was not correlated with baseline total PSA, with Gleason score and with pathological stage; patients with a NLR >3 has a higher incidence of recurrence. In multivariate analysis including age, total PSA and NLR, NLR is the most important factor able to predict recurrence. There are some limitations to this study; first, this is a retrospective study, and the total number of patients analyzed is relatively small.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study suggests that pre-treatment NLR may be associated with disease free survival in patients with prostate cancer, and could be introduced in clinical practice. NLR has the advantage of low economic cost and wide availability.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze Cliniche e Specialistiche, Sezione di Urologia, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Ospedali Riuniti, Ancona, Italy ; Clinica Urologica, Università Politecnica delle Marche, A.O. Ospedali Riuniti, Via Conca 71, 60020 Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: Daniele
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Minardi
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Oncologia Medica, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Ospedali Riuniti, Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Scartozzi
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze Cliniche e Specialistiche, Sezione di Urologia, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Ospedali Riuniti, Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Montesi
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Oncologia Medica, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Ospedali Riuniti, Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Santoni
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Oncologia Medica, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Ospedali Riuniti, Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Burattini
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Oncologia Medica, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Ospedali Riuniti, Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bianconi
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze Cliniche e Specialistiche, Sezione di Urologia, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Ospedali Riuniti, Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Lacetera
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze Cliniche e Specialistiche, Sezione di Urologia, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Ospedali Riuniti, Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Milanese
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Oncologia Medica, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Ospedali Riuniti, Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cascinu
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze Cliniche e Specialistiche, Sezione di Urologia, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Ospedali Riuniti, Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Muzzonigro
keywords: Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio; Progression free survival; Prostate cancer