title: Preoperative neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio is a prognostic factor for overall survival in patients with gastric cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Preoperative neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) reflects patients' inflammation status, clinical stage, and survival in various malignancies. However, only a limited amount of information on the clinical importance and prognostic significance of NLR in gastric cancer has been reported. The objective of this study is to assess the prognostic values of preoperative NLR in patients with gastric cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  During the period between August 1, 2005 and December 31, 2011, we collected data from 601 patients among those who had undergone surgery for gastric cancer at the Department of Surgery, Konkuk University Medical Center. We classified the subjects into high NLR (NLR ≥ 1.7) group and low NLR (NLR < 1.7) group.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The gender, age, and American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score did not differ in the two NLR groups. The pathologic features (tumor size, histology, number of examined lymph node, T stage, N stage, and TNM stage) did not differ either, except for tumor location (P = 0.006). Multivariate analysis identified TNM stage, NLR, and age as significant prognostic factors. Gender, tumor size, location, and histology did not show their prognostic significance when we applied the Cox proportional hazard model.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study verified that advanced stage, high preoperative NLR (NLR ≥ 1.7), and old age (≥ 70 years) are significant, independent prognostic factor for overall survival in patients with gastric cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Konkuk University Medical Center, Konkuk University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Jeong Hwan
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Konkuk University Medical Center, Konkuk University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Dong-Seok
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Konkuk University Medical Center, Konkuk University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Ho Yoon
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Bang
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Konkuk University Medical Center, Konkuk University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Pyeong Su
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Konkuk University Medical Center, Konkuk University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Kyung-Yung
authors.initials: KY
authors.lastname: Lee
keywords: Gastric neoplasms; Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio; Survival