Assessment of the Neutrophil-Lymphocyte Ratio in Classic Hodgkin Lymphoma Patients

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Besides known risk scoring systems, studies have recently been conducted in relation to NLR to estimate the prognosis of HL. Some studies found a relationship of NLR with PFS and OS. Our objective was to investigate whether NLR, as an inexpensive and easily accessible test, is a prognostic marker for cHL, as in several previous studies. METHODS: The study included 232 patients in the age range of 18 to 88 years who were diagnosed with classic Hodgkin Lymphoma and received ABVD chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy at Van Yuzuncu Yil University Hematology Clinic from 2000-2018. Analyses were conducted on the disease stage, risk scores, treatment responses and relapse statuses at the time of diagnosis based on the patients’ NLR values at the time of diagnosis. RESULTS: The mean age of the patients was 39.27 ± 15.90, while 38.8% were female and 61.2% were male. The NLR value at the time of diagnosis was significantly related to stage (p:0.013), early-stage risk score (p:0.022) and treatment response (p:0.032). The cutoff value of NLR was found as 4.23. The Hb value at the time of diagnosis was significantly related to stage (p:0.00), early-stage risk score (p:0.007), treatment response (p:0.006) and the latest status of patients (p:0.005). CONCLUSION: High NLR values were found to be significantly related to disease stage, early-stage risk scoring and response to the treatment. These findings need to be supported by prospective studies with larger samples for these data to be used prognostic scores.