Fibrinogen-to-lymphocyte Ratio Predicts the Outcomes of Hypopharyngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma Treated With Definitive Radiotherapy

Abstract

Background/Aim: Previous studies have identified several inflammatory biomarkers that are useful as prognostic biomarkers for various cancer types. However, the fibrinogen-to-lymphocyte ratio (FLR) has not been addressed in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Here, we aimed to examine the value of pretreatment FLR as a prognostic marker in patients who received definitive radiotherapy for hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (HpSCC). Patients and Methods: This retrospective study included 95 patients treated with definitive radiotherapy for HpSCC between 2013 and 2020. The prognostic factors for progression-free (PFS) and overall (OS) survival were identified. Results: The optimal cut-off value of pretreatment FLR for discriminating PFS was 2.46. Based on this value, 57 and 38 patients were classified into groups with high and low FLR, respectively. A high FLR was significantly associated with advanced local disease and overall stage, and with the development of synchronous second primary cancer compared with a low FLR. The high FLR group had significantly lower PFS and OS rates than the low FLR group. Multivariate analysis showed that having a high pretreatment FLR was an independent prognostic factor for poorer PFS and OS [PFS: hazard ratio (HR)=2.14, 95% confidence interval (CI)=1. p=0.026; OS: HR=2.86, p=0.024]. Conclusion: The FLR has a clinical effect on PFS and OS in patients with HpSCC, suggesting that it has potential application as a prognostic factor for patients with HpSCC.

Negative Prognostic Impact of Smoking on Long-term Survival in Patients With Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Treated With Curative (Chemo)radiotherapy

“…Accumulating studies have suggested that systemic inflammation promotes tumor progression and metastasis via the inhibition of apoptosis, promotion of angiogenesis, and damaging of DNA (87). Pretreatment hematological markers of inflammatory response, which can be measured by routine blood examinations, such as neutrophils, monocytes, lymphocytes, platelets, fibrinogen, and albumin, and several of these markers combined, have emerged as useful prognostic factors for patients with head and neck carcinomas (21,25,(27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(88)(89).…”