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Clinical variables for predicting metastatic renal cell carcinoma patients who might not benefit from cytoreductive nephrectomy: neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio and performance status

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Abstract

Background

Cytoreductive nephrectomy (CN) plays an important role in the multimodal treatment of metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC). However, certain patients experience rapid progression of the carcinoma following CN. This study aimed to investigate the value of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in the selection of patients for CN.

Methods

Records corresponding to 73 patients with metastatic RCC were retrospectively reviewed. Forty-eight patients underwent CN, and their overall survival (OS) and preoperative variables were analyzed. The OS of patients who did not undergo CN was used as a reference.

Results

Univariate analysis showed that symptomatic tumors, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Performance Status (ECOG-PS) ≥1, hemoglobin level <12 g/dl, neutrophil count ≥5500/μL, C-reactive protein level ≥2.0 mg/dl, and NLR ≥4.0 were significantly associated with poor outcomes in patients who underwent cytoreductive nephrectomy. The median OS of patients with NLR ≥4.0 was 10.2 months, which was significantly shorter than that of patients with NLR <4.0 (36.5 months) (P = 0.0020). Multivariate analysis showed that NLR and ECOG-PS were independent predictors of OS in patients treated with CN. The OS of CN patients with NLR ≥4.0 and ECOG-PS ≥1 was similar to that of patients who did not undergo CN (8.4 vs. 6.1 months, P = 0.939).

Conclusions

Preoperative NLR elevation is significantly associated with poor outcomes in patients with metastatic RCC who underwent CN. Patients with NLR ≥4.0 and ECOG-PS ≥1 might not benefit from immediate CN after initial diagnosis.

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Acknowledgments

This study was partially supported by the ‘Strategic Research-Based Support’ Project for private universities; with matching funds from MEXT (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, and Science), Japan.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest relevant to this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Urology, Tokyo Medical University, 6-7-1 Nishishinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 1600023, Japan

    Yoshio Ohno, Jun Nakashima, Makoto Ohori, Ayako Tanaka, Takeshi Hashimoto, Tatsuo Gondo, Tadashi Hatano & Masaaki Tachibana

Authors
  1. Yoshio Ohno
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  2. Jun Nakashima
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  3. Makoto Ohori
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  4. Ayako Tanaka
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  5. Takeshi Hashimoto
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  6. Tatsuo Gondo
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  7. Tadashi Hatano
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  8. Masaaki Tachibana
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Correspondence to Yoshio Ohno.

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Ohno, Y., Nakashima, J., Ohori, M. et al. Clinical variables for predicting metastatic renal cell carcinoma patients who might not benefit from cytoreductive nephrectomy: neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio and performance status. Int J Clin Oncol 19, 139–145 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10147-012-0514-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10147-012-0514-5

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