Systemic inflammatory biomarkers in primary central nervous system lymphoma versus high-grade glioma: exploratory, comparative and correlative analysis

AIM: To assess systemic inflammatory biomarkers in non invasive differential diagnosis of primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL) from high-grade glioma (HGG). MATERIALS & METHODS: Patients with similar morphology (PCNSL or HGG) on conventional neuro-imaging were included. Systemic inflammatory indices were calculated from pretreatment complete blood counts and liver function tests and compared against histopathology as reference standard. RESULTS: Mean values of absolute lymphocyte count and prognostic nutritional index were significantly different between PCNSL (n = 42) versus HGG (n = 16). Area under receiver operating characteristics curve for absolute lymphocyte count and prognostic nutritional index in the diagnosis of PCNSL was 0.70 and 0.72 respectively suggesting fair and acceptable diagnostic accuracy. CONCLUSION: Systemic inflammatory biomarkers complement established clinico-radiological features and aid in the differential diagnosis of PCNSL from HGG.