Efficacy of the neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio on biochemical recurrence in patients treated with radical prostatectomy

Objective: Radical prostatectomy (RP) is considered as the gold standard method in the treatment of localized prostate cancer in patients with more than 10 years’ life expectancy. Biochemical recurrence (BCR) is seen in patients followed up after surgery and additional treatment is required for these patients. In our study, we aimed to evaluate those who were clinically diagnosed with localized prostate cancer, had an RP operation and then developed biochemical recurrence; we also aimed to determine the efficacy of the neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) to predict BCR. Materials and Methods: The data of 996 patients diagnosed with prostate cancer in our clinic were analyzed retrospectively. Age, PSA value before transrectal ultrasonography guided prostate biopsy, digital rectal examination, Gleason score on biopsy, neutrophil and lymphocyte values detected by preoperative routine hemogram analysis, date of RP, pathological examination data of RP specimen, PSA values at follow-up after surgery, date of BCR and follow-up period of all patients were recorded. Results: We found that PSA, RP Gleason score and extracapsular spread were significant in predicting BCR in multivariate analysis while other parameters and the NLR were not. Conclusion: NLR did not prove statistically significant in univariate analysis although it was high in the patients with BCR that we evaluated in this study.