Predictive value of preoperative lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio on survival outcomes in bladder cancer patients after radical cystectomy

Purpose: To determine the prognostic significance of the pre-operative lymphocyte-to-monocyte (LMR) in patients with bladder cancer (BCa) who underwent radical cystectomy (RC), and to assess its prognostic benefit compared to models relying solely on clinicopathological factors. Materials and Methods: A retrospective analysis of the 342 BCa patients undergoing RC at our institution from 2004 to 2017 was conducted to assess LMR prognostic significance. Overall survival (OS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS) were assessed using the Kaplan-Meier method. Cox regression models identified risk factors for survival outcomes. Two new models were developed based on basal models to predict OS and CSS at 1, 3, and 5 years after RC. The accuracy of the new models was evaluated using receiver operating characteristic curves as well as the concordance index. We also conducted decision curve analysis (DCA) to assess their net benefit. Results: An association between excellent long-term patient survival outcomes and higher LMR levels was observed. The median OS and CSS for higher LMR level in patients was 98.8 months and >120 months, respectively. Cox regression multivariate analysis showed that pre-operative LMR, as a continuous variable, was an independent survival outcome predictor (p<0.001). The utilization of LMR in the standard model resulted in significant discriminatory improvement in OS (5.6%, p<0.001) and CSS (4.9%, p=0.001) prediction. Moreover, as shown in DCA, utilization of the new model, including LMR, resulted in a net benefit compared to base models for predicting OS and CSS at 1, 3, and 5 years. Conclusions: An independent association was observed between higher pre-operative LMR in BCa patients undergoing RC and significantly better OS and CSS. In addition, a significant improvement in predictive accuracy was observed with LMR inclusion in multiparametric prediction tools. Therefore, LMR may be utilized in pre-operative patient risk stratification to assist in patient counseling and clinical decision making.