Background: The neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and the platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) may be useful for drawing conclusions about the survival of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) patients.
Methods: Clinical data of 156 patients managed for HNSCC at two head and neck surgery centres were analyzed retrospectively. We studied the relationships between survival and PLR as well as NLR.
Results: With regards to 5-year survival, the difference between the two groups with PLR values lower or higher than the threshold was statistically significant (p = 0.004), and we found the same for disease-free survival (p = 0.05), and tumour-specific mortality (p = 0.009). Concerning NLR, the difference in tumour-specific survival was statistically significant (p = 0.006). According to the multivariate analysis, NLR values higher than the threshold indicated an enhanced risk for overall as well as for tumour-specific mortality.
Conclusion: In HNSCC patients, a high NLR may be considered as an independent risk factor for 5-year overall survival.
Keywords: head and neck neoplasms; neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio; platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio; survival.