Do neutrophil- lymphocyte, platelet-lymphocyte ratio correlate with pathological outcomes in localized renal tumors?

Abstract Background: We investigated the association of the blood parameters such as neutrophil, platelet accounts and neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR) with tumor type, tumor size and Fuhrman grade in nonmetastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC) cases. Methods: A total of 343 patients with nonmetastatic (T1- 4N0M0) RCC were included into the study. The patients were divided into four groups: clear cell (group-1), papillary (group-2), chromophobes (group-3) and other pathologies (group-4). In each grouping systems, the NLR, white blood cell (WBC), platelet (PLT), mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH), and mean corpuscular volume (MCV) values were compared. Results: There were 222 patients with clear cell (group-1), 62 papillary (group-2), 16 chromophobes (group-3) and 43 patients with other pathologies (group-4). There was a significant difference between the groups in group-1 and group-3 in terms of white blood cell (WBC), platelet (PLT), lymphocyte and neutrophil count. However, there was no significant difference between the groups by the surveys in terms of Neutrophil / Lymphocyte Ratio (NLR) values. There was no significantly difference between survival and NLR either. Conclusion: NLR is a cheap and easy parameter to calculate but is not suitable to predict tumor prognosis and survival yet. NLR cut-off value is the biggest problem for now. But evidences show, we are too close to overcome this problem.