Prognostic value of preoperative neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio in histological variants of non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer

PURPOSE: Many studies identified that the preoperative neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (PNLR) was associated with patient prognosis in non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC). We hypothesized that PNLR could be prognostic in patients with histological variants of NMIBC (VH-NMIBC). MATERIALS AND METHODS: This retrospective study included patients with VH-NMIBC admitted at our center between January 2009 and May 2019. The best cut-off value of NLR was measured by the receiver operating characteristic curve and Youden index. The Kaplan-Meier method and Cox proportional hazard regression models were employed to evaluate the association between PNLR and disease prognosis, including recurrence-free survival (RFS), progression-free survival (PFS), cancer-specific survival (CSS), and overall survival (OS). RESULTS: A total of 243 patients with VH-NMIBC were enrolled in our study. According to the Kaplan-Meier method results, patients with PNLR ≥2.2 were associated with poor RFS (p<0.001), PFS (p<0.001), CSS (p<0.001), and OS (p<0.001). Multivariable analyses indicated that PNLR ≥ 2.2 was an independent prognostic factor of RFS (hazard ratio [HR], 2.11; 95% confidence interval [CI, 1.57–1.83; p<0.001), PFS (HR, 2.34; 95% CI, 1.70–3.21; p<0.001), CCS (HR, 2.87; 95% CI, 1.96–4.18; p< 0.001), and OS (HR, 2.83; 95% CI, 1.96–4.07; p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: This study identified that PNLR ≥2.2 was usually associated with a poor prognosis for patients with VH-NMIBC.