Lee YS, et al. – A research was undertaken to probe the clinical impact of NLR as a prognostic factor in malignant pleural effusion (MPE) (mNLR) and a new scoring system that use NLRs in the serum and MPE (smNLR score) in lung cancer patients. For this group of patients, the new smNLR score was determined as a useful and cost–effective prognostic factor.

Methods

• All of the patients who were diagnosed with lung cancer and who presented with pleural effusion, were retrospectively reviewed.
• Analysts only included patients with malignant cells in the pleural fluid or tissue to maintain the quality of the study.
• Three smNLR score groups were formed for the patients.
• They examined clinical variables for their correlation with survival.

Results

• They classified 158 patients into three smNLR score groups as follows: 84 (53.2%) had a score of 0, 58 (36.7%) had a score of 1, and 16 (10.1%) had a score of 2.
• High sNLR, mNLR, and increments of the smNLR score were associated with shorter overall survival (p < 0.001, p = 0.004, and p < 0.001, respectively), in a univariate analysis
• Significant prognostic factors were age, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status (ECOG PS), histology, M stage, hemoglobin level, albumin level, and calcium level, and independent predictors of overall survival were ECOG PS (p < 0.001), histology (p = 0.001), and smNLR score (p < 0.012).