Abstract:

Background and purpose: Platelet to lymphocyte ratio (PLR) is an important factor reflected systematic inflammation. The clinical value of PLR has not been confirmed. The present study was to explore the value of preoperative PLR in predicting clinical stage and prognosis in upper tract urothelial carcinoma. Methods: Patients who underwent surgical therapy with postoperative pathology upper tract urothelial carcinoma without metastasis from Jan. 2007 to Mar. 2012, were collected. Following up was done by telephone and clinic work, 150 vs 1 was taken as the threshold value of PLR, and the association of PLR with tumor stage, whether suffered bladder cancer as comorbidity, recurrent or metastasis, overall survival, tumor lesion, preoperative hematuria, gender and age was analyzed. We further analyzed the association difference of disease free survival (DFS) time and overall survival (OS) time between different PLR groups. Results: Fifty-one cases of UTUC were collected, and the postoperative mean following up time is 21 (9–51) months. Twenty cases recurred or metastasis and 9 cases died. The mean DFS time was 15 (2–51) months, and the mean OS time was 21 (9–51) months. One-factor analysis of variance showed that preoperative PLR was associated with tumor stage, overall survival rate, hematuria and gender, and the P value were 0.028, 0.008, 0.045, 0.036 respectively. High PLR group was intended to be non-organ confined disease, the sensitivity was 57% and the specificity was 74%. Survival analysis by Kaplan-Meier method showed there is no statistical difference in DFS between high and low PLR groups (P=0.155). But OS time in high PLR group was significantly less than that in low PLR group (P=0.006). Cox regression confirmed that only tumor stage is an independent prognostic factor of OS (P=0.029). Conclusion: PLR has potential clinical value in predicting advanced stage disease and Cox regression confirmed that only tumor stage is an independent prognostic factor of OS.

Key words: Upper tract urothelial carcinoma, Platelet to lymphocyte ratio, Tumor stage, Prognostic factor