Pretreatment count of peripheral neutrophils, monocytes, and lymphocytes as independent prognostic factor in patients with head and neck cancer

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to analyze the prognostic value of pretreatment count of peripheral neutrophils, lymphocytes, monocytes, and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). METHODS: Local, regional, and distant recurrence-free survival and disease-specific survival were analyzed according to the count of neutrophils, lymphocytes, monocytes, and NLR. RESULTS: We observed a decrease in disease-specific survival as the quartile category of neutrophils, monocytes, and NLR increased. In the case of lymphocytes, patients in the lower quartile had lower disease-specific survival. Considering the disease-specific survival as the dependent variable, a recursive partitioning analysis classified the patients according to the neutrophil and monocyte counts. CONCLUSION: High pretreatment count of peripheral neutrophils and/or monocytes was independently related with worse prognosis in patients with HNSCC. Classification based on pretreatment neutrophil and monocyte counts enabled the identification of different prognostic profiles.