Abstract

Background: Inflammatory status of host plays an important role in assessing the prognosis in cancer patients. Neutrophil lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet neutrophil ratio (PLR) reflect the status of systematic inflammation. These novel markers have emerged as valuable and reliable prognostic and mortality evaluators in cancer patients. So we aimed to determine the prognostic significance of these inflammatory indices in oral squamous cell carcinoma patients.

Objective: The purpose of this study is to determine the prognostic value of PLR and NLR in patients with resected oral squamous cell carcinoma who had undergone concurrent chemotherapy and radiotherapy (CTRT).

Method: We performed a retrospective analysis of 20 oral carcinoma patients who underwent concurrent CTRT following resection. The prognostic value of the laboratory parameters were evaluated by ‘t’ test and univariate analysis.

Results: The statistical analysis revealed that there was an increase in NLR and PLR  post treatment but the increase was statistically significant only in PLR. Univariate analysis was done pertaining to parameters such as age, gender, NLR, PLR, PFS (progression free survival) and OS (overall survival) to evaluate the association between these factors and PFS and OS.

Conclusion: This study provided evidence for the association between NLR, PLR to outcome in oral squamous cell carcinoma. Preoperative NLR, PLR may represent a simple and cost-effective method for predicting the prognosis.

Keywords: Neutrophil Lymphocyte Ratio, Platelet Neutrophil Ratio, Progression Free Survival, Overall Survival.