Research Article - Biomedical Research (2018) Volume 29, Issue 1

Retracted: Neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio is a predictor of venous thromboembolism in gastric cancer patients

Background: The Neutrophil-lymphocyte Ratio (NLR) reflects the inflammatory state. Elevated NLR has been reported to be a prognostic indicator in some malignancies. The aim of this study was to determine whether NLR is a prognostic factor in the response to anticoagulation and survival in patients with gastric cancer and Venous Thromboembolism (VTE) treated with anti-VTE.

Methods: We retrospectively recruited 73 patients with gastric cancer who had VTE, among 539 patients with pathologically proven gastric cancer between January 2008 and December 2016. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to identify clinicopathological predictors of anticoagulant response and overall survival.

Results: Patients with high NLR had more late tumor stage (p=0.046), deeper tumor depth (p=0.033), and worse histologic grade (p=0.045) than did the low NLR group. There was a statistically significant association between poor NLR (p=0.001) and low albumin (p=0.016) and anticoagulant therapy. Multivariate analysis showed that high levels of NLR (hazard ratio, 1.56, 95% CI: 1.32-1.87, p=0.032) and late tumor stage (hazard ratio, 2.11, 95% CI: 1.29-3.44, p=0.043) were independent risk factors for poor prognosis for gastric cancer patients with VTE.

Conclusions: The results suggest that NLR may be a useful biomarker in predicting the response to anticoagulation and survival in patients with gastric cancer with VTE.

Author(s): Qi Hong, Ya Wang

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