ABSTRACT
Objective:To investigate the effect of peripheral blood neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) before radical radiotherapy on overall survival (OS) of patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.Methods:The clinical data of 359 patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma from March 2011 to January 2017 in Shanxi Provincial Cancer Hospital were retrospectively analyzed. The gender, age, smoking index, Karnofsky score, lesion site, lesion length, tumor length, TNM stage, concurrent chemoradiotherapy, NLR, etc., were observed. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was drawn according to patients' NLR to find the optimal cut-off value, the patients were divided into the low NLR group and the high NLR group, and the OS of the two groups was analyzed. Univariate log-rank test and multivariate Cox analysis were used to determine the factors affecting the OS of patients.Results:The area under the curve (AUC) of NLR for predicting OS was 0.576, the best cut-off value for OS prediction was 2.103 6, and the sensitivity and specificity were 60.8% and 55.2%, respectively. According to the best cut-off value of peripheral blood NLR 2.103 6, the 359 patients were divided into the low NLR group (NLR < 2.103 6, 156 cases, 43.5%) and high NLR group (NLR ≥ 2.103 6, 203 cases, 56.5%). There were statistical differences in gender ( χ2 = 8.960, P = 0.003) and lesion length ( χ2 = 12.948, P = 0.002) between low NLR group and high NLR group. Univariate analysis showed that the lesion length, NLR, N stage, M stage and total TNM clinical stage were influencing factors affecting OS of patients (all P < 0.05). Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that the lesion length ( HR = 1.456, 95% CI 1.215-1.745, P < 0.01), NLR ( HR = 1.313, 95% CI 1.020-1.690, P = 0.035) and N stage ( HR = 1.768, 95% CI 1.391-2.248, P < 0.01) were independent influencing factors affecting OS of patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma before radical radiotherapy. Conclusions:Peripheral blood NLR is an independent influencing factor affecting OS of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma patients before radical radiotherapy. NLR has important reference value for predicting the OS of patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma after radical radiotherapy.
ABSTRACT
Objective To analyze the related influencing factors of progressive ischemic stroke, and to investigate the value of serum markers for prediction of progressive ischemic stroke. Methods Three hundred and six patients with acute cerebral infarction were divided into progressive ischemic stroke (PIS) group (n=91) and non-progressive ischemic stroke (NPIS) group (n=215). Data of gender, age, past medical history, personal history and serum markers were collected and compared in two groups. Binary Logistic regression was used to analyze the influencing factors of PIS. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves of neutrophils to lymphocytes ratio (NLR), fibrinogen and fasting blood glucose were analyzed in two groups. Results Positive rates of hypertension history, diabetes history, hypercholesterolemia history, incidence of large artery atherosclerotic (LAA) stroke were significantly higher in PIS group than those in NPIS group ( P<0.05). The levels of neutrophils, NLR, fibrinogen and fasting blood glucose were significantly higher, but the level of lymphocytes was significantly lower in patients with PIS than those in patients with NPIS (P<0.05). Logistic regression analysis confirmed that diabetes, LAA stroke, NLR, fibrinogen and fasting blood glucose were independent risk factors for the PIS ( P<0.05). The areas under ROC curve by NLR, fibrinogen and fasting blood glucose were 0.777, 0.560 and 0.574, respectively. The sensitivities of NLR, fibrinogen and fasting blood glucose were 72.5%, 59.8%and 47.3%, respectively;and the specificities were 76.7%, 51.2% and 69.8%, respectively. Conclusion The occurrence of PIS is related with blood pressure, blood lipids, inflammatory cells in peripheral bolld, fibrinogen and fasting blood glucose. The level of NLR in peripheral blood can predict the occurrence of PIS, which can be used as an important reference index for early diagnosis of PIS.