Neutrophil-lymphocyte Ratio Plus Prognostic Nutritional Index Predicts the Outcomes of Patients with Unresectable Hepatocellular Carcinoma After Transarterial Chemoembolization

Abstract

For many malignancies, inflammation-based scores correlate with survival. The neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and prognostic nutritional index (PNI) are immunonutritional indices associated with postoperative outcomes in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We evaluated whether a combined preoperative NLR and PNI score was prognostically superior to either index alone in 793 patients with unresectable HCC after transarterial chemoembolization. Patient demographic, clinical, and pathological data were also collected and analysed. A receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was used to classify patients as follows: NLR-PNI 0 group (NLR ≤ 2.2 and PNI > 46), NLR-PNI 1 group (NLR > 2.2 or PNI ≤ 46) and NLR-PNI 2 group (NLR > 2.2 and PNI ≤ 46). Regarding 1-, 3-, and 5-year survival, the NLR-PNI score had superior discriminative abilities (i.e., higher area under the ROC curve), compared with either the NLR or PNI alone, and patients in the NLR-PNI 0, 1, and 2 groups had median survival times of 33 (95% confidence interval: 22.8-43.2), 14 (10.9-17.1), and 6 (9.9-14.1) months, respectively. In multivariate analyses, the Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer, total bilirubin, vascular invasion, and NLR-PNI score adversely affected overall survival. In conclusion, the NLR-PNI score can improve the accuracy of prognoses for patients with unresectable HCC.

Figure 1

The optimal cut-off value of NLR and PNI on the Receiver operating characteristic curve to predict the overall survive. A: NLR; B: PNI.

Figure 2

Kaplan-Meier survival curves for overall survival in 793 patients undergoing transarterial chemoembolization for hepatocellular carcinoma. (A) Overall survive; (B) NLR; (C) PNI; (D) NLR-PNI score.

Figure 3

Comparisons of the area under the curve for outcome prediction. Comparisons among the inflammation-based index and scores at (A) Overall survive time; (B) at 1-year; (C) at 3-year; and (D) at 5-year in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma after TACE.