Background and objective: As an index of inflammation, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is regarded as one of prognostic factors of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). This study was to evaluate the correlation of preoperative NLR to the prognosis of young HCC patients after radical resection.
Methods: Clinical data of 91 HCC patients with age of younger than 35 years who underwent radical resection from 2000 to 2005 were analyzed. According to preoperative NLR, the patients were divided into the low NLR group (NLR<or=2) and the high NLR group (NLR>2). The overall and disease-free survival rates of the two groups were compared.
Results: The 1-and 3-year overall survival rates were 92.9% and 85.6% in the low NLR group, 89.8% and 57.1% in the high NLR group; the 1-and 3-year disease-free survival rates were 85.3% and 80.0% in the low NLR group, 69.1% and 43.5% in the high NLR group. The difference between the two groups was significant (P<0.05). Cox multivariate analysis showed that preoperative NLR and tumor size were independent prognostic factors of disease-free survival and overall survival for young HCC patients after radical resection.
Conclusion: Preoperative NLR>2 was a negative prognostic factor of disease-free and overall survival for young HCC patients after radical resection.