Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio predicts overall survival of patients with combined hepatocellular cholangiocarcinoma.

The neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) has been regarded as a prognostic factor in various types of cancer. The present study aimed to identify the association between NLR and combined hepatocellular cholangiocarcinoma (cHCC-CC) in patients who underwent surgical resection. The present study retrospectively reviewed 59 patients who were diagnosed with cHCC-CC and treated with surgical resection between January 2000 and October 2014 at the Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery at Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center (Guangzhou, China). The patients were divided into two groups: NLR≤2.75 and NLR>2.75. Patients with stage I and II or stage III and IV disease were classified into early- and advanced-stage groups, respectively, according to the Tumor-Node-Metastasis (TNM) staging system. Overall survival time (OS) was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression models were used to evaluate the prognostic value of NLR. The NLR value was significantly higher in the HCC advanced-stage group compared with that in the HCC early-stage group according to the TNM staging system (3.19 vs. 2.00; P=0.001). The median survival time was 83.6 months in the NLR≤2.75 group and 15 months in the NLR>2.75 group (P=0.004). Upon multivariate analysis, NLR>2.75 was an independent prognostic factor for poor cHCC-CC outcomes. Overall, the easily evaluated pre-treatment NLR may be an independent prognostic factor for patients with cHCC-CC treated by surgical resection.