Evaluation of preoperative neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio in differentiated thyroid carcinoma with lymph node metastasis

Serhat Özçelik; Mehmet Çelik; Melike Özçelik

doi:10.28982/josam.516942

Authors

Serhat Özçelik https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0521-5866
Mehmet Çelik https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7364-370X
Melike Özçelik https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0406-715X

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.28982/josam.516942

Keywords:

Neutrophil, Lymphocyte, Thyroid, Carcinoma

Abstract

Aim: Systemic inflammatory response has been shown to play a critical role in all stages of tumor development, progression and metastasis. High neutrophil lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is thought to be an indicator of poor prognosis of tumors. In this study, we investigated the relationship between preoperative NLR and lymph node metastasis of differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC).

Methods: The study included a total of 74 patients diagnosed with DTC according to pathology results after thyroid surgery. The NLR was determined by dividing the absolute neutrophil count in the whole blood count by the lymphocyte count. Optimal cut-off value was estimated by means of ROC curve. The study was designed a cross-sectional study.

Results: With a 95% confidence interval, the area under the curve of 0.620 and the likelihood ratio of 3.2, the cut-off value for NLR was found to be 2.59 with 44.4% sensitivity and 86.2% specificity, respectively. There was a significant relationship between the current cut off value and the lymph node metastasis of DTC (P=0.03).

Conclusion: NLR was found to be significantly increased in lymph node-positive differentiated thyroid cancers. The neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio as an inflammation index is inexpensive for patients with differentiated thyroid carcinoma, easily available and easy to obtain from routine blood tests.

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