Lymphocyte-to-C-Reactive Protein Ratio as a Novel Marker for Predicting Oncological Outcomes in Patients with Esophageal Cancer

• Published in: World journal of surgery Vol. 45; no. 11; pp. 3370 - 3377
• Main Authors: Takeuchi, Masashi, Kawakubo, Hirofumi, Hoshino, Shota, Matsuda, Satoru, Mayanagi, Shuhei, Irino, Tomoyuki, Fukuda, Kazumasa, Nakamura, Rieko, Wada, Norihito, Kitagawa, Yuko
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 01.11.2021; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Abdominal Surgery; C-reactive protein; Cancer; Cardiac Surgery; Confidence intervals; Esophageal cancer; Esophagus; General Surgery; Health hazards; Inflammation; Lymph nodes; Lymphatic system; Lymphocytes; Markers; Medical prognosis; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Metastases; Metastasis; Multivariate analysis; Original Scientific Report; Patients; Proteins; Surgery; Survival; Thoracic Surgery; Thorax; Vascular Surgery
• ISSN: 0364-2313; 1432-2323
• DOI: 10.1007/s00268-021-06269-z

Background Esophageal cancer has a poor prognosis because of its rapid progression and early and extensive lymph node metastasis. Simple, objective indicators for predicting long-term outcomes are needed to select optimal perioperative treatment and appropriate follow-up for patients with esophageal cancer. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between the lymphocyte-to-C-reactive protein ratio (LCR) and the survival of patients with esophageal cancer, by performing time-dependent receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. The results were compared to those of traditional inflammation-based markers. Methods This study enrolled 495 patients who underwent thoracic esophagectomy for esophageal cancer as the primary treatment between 2000 and 2019 in our department. We investigated the predictability of the LCR for oncological outcomes compared to that of other traditional inflammatory markers. Results The 3-year overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) were 72.6% and 57.5%, respectively. Low LCR was significantly associated with higher cancer stage, included depth of invasion ( p  < 0.001), lymph node metastasis ( p  < 0.001) and cStage ( p  < 0.001). The LCR had the highest AUC value (0.675) for predicting OS compared to the other examined inflammatory markers. In multivariate analysis, the LCR (optimal cutoff threshold = 19,000) was identified as a significant predictor of death (hazard ratio, 2.24; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.61–3.12; p  < 0.001) and recurrence (hazard ratio, 1.97; 95%CI, 1.48–2.63; p  < 0.001). Conclusion The LCR is novel indicator for oncological outcomes for patients with esophageal cancer and may assist to facilitate personalized multidisciplinary treatments.