High pretreatment platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio is related to poor prognosis in the squamous cell carcinoma of the larynx and hypopharynx in male patients.

BACKGROUND There were heterogeneous or even conflicting data regarding the ability of platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) for predicting the prognosis of laryngeal/hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LHSCC). The discrepancies were found to be largely due to the cutoff value of PLR. AIMS The aims of this study were to rationally select an optimal PLR cutoff value and to analyze the relationship between pretreatment PLR and the prognosis. METHODS A total of 180 male patients were eligible for this retrospective study. We included another 180 healthy male individuals as controls. The relationship between PLR and age in patients and the controls was determined. The optimal cutoff values of PLR were identified. PLR value was then dichotomized into two categories, and the relationship between PLR and the clinicopathologic parameters were calculated. Kaplan-Meier curves were used to evaluate the overall survival (OS), and the association between PLR and the OS was analyzed. RESULTS The linear regression analysis showed a positive correlation between age and PLR in the control group, but not the patients. The optimal cutoff value of PLR was 112.5. The high PLR value group of patients exhibited significantly decreased OS. PLR was related to prognosis, as revealed by the univariate Cox regression. CONCLUSION Patients with LHSCC have abnormal high PLR, and a high pretreatment PLR portends adverse survival.