Prognostic value of pretreatment peripheral blood markers in paranasal sinus cancer: Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio

Background: Pretreatment hematological markers have emerged as prognostic factors for several cancers. The purpose of this study was to present our investigation of the value of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) in predicting recurrence and mortality for patients with primary sinonasal cancers (SNCs). Methods: We carried out a retrospective review of patients with SNC who had been treated using endoscopic approaches from 2002 to 2014 at a single institute. The endpoints analyzed were overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS). Results: Of 365 patients treated, 215 fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Analysis of epithelial tumors (adenocarcinoma and carcinoma) and advanced-stage cancers (pT3–T4) showed shorter OS and DFS in those patients with higher NLR and PLR. Furthermore, the NLR and PLR were revealed as independent prognostic factors for DFS, with a reduced risk of recurrence in patients with NLR <2.6 (hazard ratio [HR], 0.39; p =.02) and PLR <156.9 (HR, 0.34; p =.001). Conclusion: High pretreatment NLR and PLR are associated with poor prognosis in patients affected by epithelial advanced-stage SNC. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck 39: 730–736, 2017.