Combination of the neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio and the platelet to lymphocyte ratio as a useful predictor for recurrence following radiofrequency ablation of hepatocellular carcinoma

The aim of the present study was to investigate the prognostic potential of a novel inflammation-based system, the combination of the neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and the platelet to lymphocyte ratio (PLR) (CNP), for predicting the survival time of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) who had received radiofrequency ablation (RFA). A total of 287 HCC patients treated with RFA were enrolled in the study. Patients with an elevated NLR (>2.58) and an elevated PLR (>131.78) were allocated a score of 2, and patients exhibiting one or neither of these characteristics were allocated a score of 1 or 0, respectively. The association between the CNP and various HCC clinicopathological factors, patterns of recurrence and prognoses were analyzed. The CNP was associated with liver cirrhosis (P=0.015), Child-Pugh class (P=0.024), total bilirubin level (P=0.028), neutrophil count (P<0.001), lymphocyte count (P<0.001) and platelet count (P<0.001). Compared with their low-CNP counterparts, patients with an elevated CNP were more likely to develop distant intrahepatic recurrence [52.3% (CNP 2) vs. 33.9% (CNP 0) and 34.6% (CNP 1), P=0.015; CNP 0 vs. CNP 1, P=0.922; CNP 1 vs. CNP 2, P=0.020] and extrahepatic metastasis [25.0% (CNP 2) vs. 7.6% (CNP 0) and 18.5% (CNP 1), P=0.003; CNP 0 vs. CNP 1, P=0.020; CNP 1 vs. CNP 2, P=0.309], and had shorter overall survival (OS) time (CNP 0 vs. CNP 1, P<0.001; CNP 1 vs. CNP 2, P<0.001) and recurrence-free survival (RFS; CNP 0 vs. CNP 1, P=0.012; CNP 1 vs. CNP 2, P=0.004). Moreover, multivariate analysis revealed that the CNP was superior to the NLR and the PLR as an independent prognostic marker of OS and RFS. Therefore, it was concluded that the CNP may represent a useful predictor for recurrence and prognosis in patients with HCC treated with RFA.