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Usefulness of the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio in predicting lymph node metastasis in patients with non-small cell lung cancer

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Tumor Biology

Abstract

Preoperative neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is a new hotspot for its prognostic significance in many types of cancers. In this study, a novel diagnosing model—the combination of enhanced contrast computed tomography (ECCT) and NLR (COCT-NLR) was constructed to detect the lymph nodal involvement in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The clinicopathological parameters and thoracic ECCT images of 353 NSCLC patients were retrospectively reviewed. The COCT-NLR model was constructed and evaluated in detecting regional lymph nodal metastasis in patients with NSCLC. Univariate and multivariate analyses of clinicopathological parameters revealed that NLR value was independently associated with regional nodal involvement rate in patients with NSCLC (odds ratio (OR) = 4.770; 95 % confidence interval (CI), 2.487–9.146; P < 0.001). Compared with ECCT and NLR, the COCT-NLR model showed the highest efficacy in predicting nodal involvement. The sensitivity and specificity of COCT-NLR were 70.59 and 74.89 %, respectively. The COCT-NLR model is a valuable tool in detecting regional lymph node metastasis in patients with NSCLC.

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Conflicts of interest

None

Funding

This study received funding from the Science Foundation of Tian** Health Bureau (2011KZ79), Wu Jie** Clinical Medical Foundation (320.6750.13129), and National Natural Science Foundation of China (81302487)

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Senior Ward, Tian** Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, National Clinical Research Center for Cancer, Key Laboratory of Cancer Prevention and Therapy, Tian**, China

      Chongbiao Huang, Jie Yue & Daliang Qi

    2. Department of Pancreatic Carcinoma, Tian** Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, National Clinical Research Center for Cancer, Key Laboratory of Cancer Prevention and Therapy, Tian**, China

      Zengxun Li & Na Li

    3. Department of Radiology, Tian** Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, National Clinical Research Center for Cancer, Key Laboratory of Cancer Prevention and Therapy, Tian**, China

      **kun Zhao

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    1. Chongbiao Huang
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    2. Jie Yue
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    Correspondence to Daliang Qi.

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    Chongbiao Huang and Jie Yue contributed equally to this work.

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    Huang, C., Yue, J., Li, Z. et al. Usefulness of the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio in predicting lymph node metastasis in patients with non-small cell lung cancer. Tumor Biol. 36, 7581–7589 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13277-015-3462-7

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    • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13277-015-3462-7

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