Diagnostic and prognostic importance of the neutrophil lymphocyte ratio in breast cancer.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to determine diagnostic and prognostic roles of the neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in breast cancer patients. To date, data are limited on associations of primary breast carcinoma (PBC) and benign proliferative breast disease (BPBD) with preoperative NLR values.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Our study covered of 120 female patients with PBC and 50 with BPBD. Diagnostic values of NLR were estimated using sensitivity, specificity and areas under receiver operating characteristic curves (AUC).

RESULTS: NLR values were significantly higher in the PBC patients than in those with BPBD, with an AUC of 0.668 in the PBC case. The optimal cut-off for NLR was 2.96 and this was validated in the testing set, giving a sensitivity and a specificity of 79.7% and 76.2%, respectively, in PBC patients.

CONCLUSIONS: Preoperative high NLR is a significant diagnostic predictor of distinction of breast cancer from BPBD and elevated NLR is also an important prognostic marker for primary invasive breast cancer.