Predictive Value Of Blood Inflammation Cell Ratios For Pathologic Complete Response In Patients With Rectal Cancer Undergoing Neoadjuvant Chemoradiotherapy

Objective: To investigate the predictive value of pre-therapy blood inflammation-associated cell ratios(neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio(NLR),platelet to lymphocyte ratio(PLR))for pathologic complete response(pCR)in patients with rectal cancer undergoing neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy(nCRT).Methods: A retrospective study was conducted to collect and analyze the clinical data of 93 patients with locally advanced rectal cancer who underwent neoadjuvant chemoradiation and radical resection of rectal cancer from February 2004 to September 2018 in the Fourth Hospital of Hebei Medical University.The receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve was drawn to analyze the predictive value of NLR and PLR for pCR after neoadjuvant chemoradiation and chemotherapy.Results: Of the 93 patients with rectal cancer,17 had a postoperative pathological evaluation of pCR,accounting for 18.3%.NLR levels were significantly lower in the pCR group than in the non-pCR group(pCR group: non-pCRgroup = 2.13(1.70,2.71)vs 2.92(2.20,3.80),P = 0.007).PLR levels were significantly lower in the pCR group than in the non-pCR group(pCR group: non-pCRgroup = 120.2(110.8,137.9)vs 139.4(124.4,172.3),P = 0.008).NLR(≤2.57)and PLR(≤128.47)predicted that the sensitivity of pCR after nCRT was 71.1%,72.4%,specificity was 76.5%,70.6%,and the area under the ROC curve(AUC)was 0.742,0.707 respectively.Conclusion: Pre-therapy blood NLR and PLR levels have certain predictive value for pCR in patients with LARC undergoing nCRT,NLR≤2.57,PLR≤128.47 may predict a higher rate of pCR.