Can neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio be used to identify patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma who may gain greater benefit from cytoreductive nephrectomy?

490 Background: Two randomized trials demonstrated survival benefits associated with cytoreductive nephrectomy (CN) for metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) in the interferon era. However, the role of CN in the era of targeted therapies is yet to be defined. In recent years, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) has emerged as a clinically useful prognostic marker in several cancers including mRCC. In this multi-center retrospective study, we aim to assess the impact of CN in mRCC and the value of NLR in risk stratification and patient selection. Methods: Patients with de novo mRCC diagnosed between 2006 and 2012 from three large Australian hospitals were identified using an electronic database. Data regarding clinicopathological features, MSKCC risk group, NLR at the time of metastatic diagnosis, treatments received and survival were collected. NLR ≥5 was used as the cutoff for statistical analyses. Survival analyses were performed using the Kaplan-Meier method and compared using the log-rank test. Mult...