Prognostic value of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio in patients treated with concurrent chemoradiotherapy for locally advanced oesophageal cancer

Background: We performed a retrospective analysis of Asian patients with locally advanced oesophageal cancer to test the hypothesis that an elevated neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio is associated with a poor survival rate after definitive concurrent chemoradiotherapy. Methods: In total, 138 patients diagnosed with locally advanced oesophageal cancer (TNM classification of malignant tumours stage II or III) who were treated with definitive concurrent chemoradiotherapy between January 2005 and December 2010 were retrospectively analysed. Definitive concurrent chemoradiotherapy was performed using two different chemotherapy regimens. Results: The median follow-up duration was 39.5 months (range 1.1-93.4). The median progression-free survival was 14.0 months, and the median overall survival was 19.9 months. Compared with the low (<2.0) neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio group (n=43, 31.2%), the high (≥2.0) neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio group (n=95, 68.8%) exhibited significant decreases in the durations of both progression-free survival and overall survival. Using multivariate analysis, an elevated neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio was also significantly associated with decreased progression-free survival (HR 1.799; 95% CI, 1.050-3.083; P=0.032) and overall survival duration (HR 2.115; 95% CI, 1.193-3.749; P=0.010). Conclusions: The pretreatment neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio is a useful prognostic marker in patients with locally advanced oesophageal cancer treated with definitive concurrent chemoradiotherapy.