Clinical Relevance of Postoperative Neutrophil–Lymphocyte Ratio (NLR) to Recurrence After Adjuvant Chemotherapy of S-1 for Gastric Cancer

BACKGROUND/AIM: The clinical significance of postoperative neutrophil lymphocyte ratio (NLR) remains unclear. The aim of this study was to examine the impact of postoperative NLR on prediction for postoperative recurrence of gastric cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A retrospective analysis was performed on data from 170 patients with Stage II/III gastric cancer who underwent surgery followed by adjuvant chemotherapy using S-1 between 2006 and 2015. Postoperative NLR was calculated every 6 months and the data at the time of recurrence or last survival were used for analysis. RESULTS: Postoperative NLR was associated with Prognostic nutritional index (PNI) and modified Glasgow Prognostic Score (mGPS). In multivariate analysis, we found that elevated CA19-9, CEA and NLR were independent predictive markers. The patients with low values of both NLR and CEA after surgery had the most favorable prognosis. CONCLUSION: The postoperative NLR might be one of the surrogate markers for recurrence after curative surgery for patients with Stage II/III gastric cancer.