Evidence map›Paper›PMID 31463142›Full record

ReviewJournal of thoracic disease2019

Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio as prognostic marker in esophageal cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Giovanni Pirozzolo, Suzanne S Gisbertz, Carlo Castoro, Mark Ivo van Berge Henegouwen, Marco Scarpa

Open access · diamondAbstract readReview
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in Journal of thoracic disease, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 68 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
68citing papers in PubMed, 5 pooled it
5.4field-weighted citation impact, top 3% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

68 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 106 citations in OpenAlex.

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  18. Inflammatory Biomarkers from Blood Counts as Prognostic Tools in Metastatic Esophageal Cancer.Medical science monitor : international medical journal of experimental and clinical research · 2025
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8 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.

Giovanni PirozzoloGeneral Surgery Department, dell'Angelo Hospital, Venice, Italy.
Suzanne S GisbertzGeneral Surgery Department, AMC-Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Carlo CastoroEsophago-gastric Surgery Department, Humanitas Research Hospital, Rozzano, Italy.
Mark Ivo van Berge HenegouwenGeneral Surgery Department, AMC-Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Marco ScarpaGeneral Surgery Department, Padua Hospital, Padua, Italy.
Academic Medical Center · NLIRCCS Humanitas Research Hospital · ITOspedale dell' Angelo · IT

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

A high preoperative neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) has been shown in several studies as a predictor of worse survival in many solid neoplasms, including esophageal cancer, but its impact remains unclear. The goal of this systematic review was to gain all the evidence about NLR in order to analyse its potential in predicting survival in esophageal cancer. Therefore, we conducted a systematic literature search of all relevant studies reporting data on NLR as prognostic marker in esophageal cancer patients. We considered overall survival (OS) as primary outcome, disease-free survival (DFS) and progression-free survival (PFS) as secondary outcomes. We included studies with a directly or indirectly available hazard ratio (HR), furthermore we used both fixed effect model and random effect model depending on heterogeneity. We included a total of 20 studies, published between 2011 and 2017, consisting of 6,457 patients. The NLR cut-off value ranges from 1.7 to 5. The HR for OS of all included studies was 1.60. The HR for DFS and PFS was 1.75 and 1.66 respectively. The survival sub-analysis about tumor characteristics, treatment modality, blood sample timing also confirmed NLR prognostic relevance with statistically significant results. The meta-analysis showed that high preoperative NLR is associated with worse survival in esophageal cancer, as shown in several solid tumors, but its use in the clinical practice is still underestimated. High-quality studies are needed to assess the most effective cut-off in survival prognostication and NLR relevance on postoperative complications.

Indexed as

esophageal cancermarkersmeta-analysisNeutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR)prognosis

Identifiers

PMID31463142
PMCPMC6688029
OpenAlexW2964242508

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.