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Background:Pathologic response after neoadjuvant therapy has been shown to improve outcomes in rectal cancer.Inflammatory markers, including neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), have been studied to predict pathologic response and survival.This study aimed to evaluate the association between NLR and pathological response as well as outcome in patients with rectal cancer who underwent neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT). Material/Methods:We retrospectively analyzed 187 patients with rectal cancer treated with nCRT followed by surgery between 2016 and 2020.The NLR was calculated using archival complete blood count records.Postoperative pathology reports were recorded.The NLR cut-off was determined by receiver operating characteristic curve.Kaplan-Meier survival curves and univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were used to analyze the relationship between NLR and clinicopathologic data to predict survival and prognosis. Results:An NLR >3.63 at diagnosis was the optimal cut-off value for predicting progression.Near-complete response rates were higher in patients with NLR 3.63 (18%) (P=0.035).The NLR 3.63 group (63.6% vs 40.1%, respectively; P=0.007).The NLR 3.63 group (72.3% vs 63.1%, respectively), but the difference was not statistically significant (P=0.077). Conclusions:Our study showed a higher near-complete response rate in rectal cancer patients with NLR <3.63 receiving nCRT.This finding supports that a low preoperative NLR is a good prognostic factor in indicating pathological response.
Karaca et al. (Wed,) studied this question.