AUTHOR=Gao Hua , Gao Qing , Sun Jinlan 

TITLE=Significance of Pretreatment Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte Ratio in Mucoepidermoid Carcinoma of Pediatrics: A Multicenter Study

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Pediatrics

VOLUME=Volume 8 - 2020

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/pediatrics/articles/10.3389/fped.2020.00096

DOI=10.3389/fped.2020.00096

ISSN=2296-2360

ABSTRACT=Background: Our goal was to analyze the value of the pretreatment neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in the prognosis of pediatrics with parotid mucoepidermoid carcinoma (MEC).
Methods: Patients (≤18 years old) undergoing surgical treatment for primary parotid MEC were  enrolled from multiple clinical centers retrospectively. The Chi-square test was used to analyze  the associations between clinicopathological variables and the NLR, the main study endpoints were recurrence-free survival (RFS) and disease-specific survival (DSS), the prognostic value of NLR was assessed by Kaplan-Meier method and and Cox model analysis.
Results: There were 88 patients included in total with mean NLR of 2.32 (range: 1.8-6.0). Histologic tumor grade and tumor stage were associated with the NLR significantly. The 10-year RFS rates were 98% and 81% for patients with an NLR <2.32 and patients with an NLR ≥2.32, respectively, the difference was significant (p=0.010). The 10-year DSS rate was 97% and 81% for patients with an NLR <2.32 and patients with an NLR ≥2.32, respectively, the difference was not significant (p=0.072). The independence of NLR in predicting the RFS was furtherly confirmed in Cox model analysis
Conclusion: The NLR significantly affects the prognosis in pediatrics with primary parotid MEC.