Prognostic role of an inflammation scoring system in radical resection of oral squamous cell carcinoma

Abstract Background Inflammatory markers can influence postoperative prognosis and outcome of malignant tumors. However, prognostic factors for surgical treatment of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) are still debatable. The primary objective of this investigation has been to detect the preoperative blood fibrinogen and neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in OSCC patients, and to determine the predictive validity of F-NLRs (the combined fibrinogen and NLR score). Methods A total of 421 patients with oral cancer after surgery were separated into three classes: F-NLRs of 2, with hyperfibrinogenemia (> 400 mg/dL) and high NLR (> 2.5); F-NLRs of 1, with only one higher index; and F-NLRs of 0, with no higher indices. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to identify risk factors for demographic and clinical characteristics of patients with three group F-NLRs. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was used to assess the prognosis. Results The preoperative F-NLRs showed relatively better predictive role in oral cancer prognosis than fibrinogen and NLR alone. Multivariate analysis revealed that the F-NLRs has the potential to be an independent predictor for OSCC outcome (P = 0.030). Patients with high scores have a relatively poor prognosis relative to those with low scores (P < 0.01). Conclusions Our findings indicate that the blood F-NLRs may serve as an independent prognostic factor in OSCC patients.