The potential role of neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio in predicting prostate cancer in patients who underwent transrectal ultrasonography guided biopsy

Objective: To investigate the relation of neutrophil lymphocyte ratio (NLR) with the diagnosis of prostate cancer (PCa) in patients who underwent transrectal ultrasonography guided biopsy (TRUS-bx) Design: Retrospective study Setting: Department of Urology, Health Sciences University, Bozyaka Training and Research Hospital, Izmir, Turkey Subjects: This retrospective analysis included data from 172 consecutive patients who underwent TRUS-bx. Interventions: Transrectal ultrasonography guided biopsy Main outcome measures: The correlation of pre-biopsy NLR and finding PCa in TRUS-bx Results: Group 1 was composed of 115 patients in whom pathology was reported benign, and group 2 included 57 patients in whom pathology was reported as PCa. There was no statistically significant difference in NLR between the benign disease subgroups. Group 2 was divided into three subgroups according to Gleason score and total prostate specific antigen (PSA). Mean NLR was not significantly different between these subgroups. A receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was used to calculate a cut-off value for NLR and the threshold provided by the analysis was 2.23. We identified 89 patients (51.7%) with a high NLR (>= 2.23) and 83 patients (48.3%) with a low NLR (<2.23). A high NLR was significantly associated with finding PCa in TRUSbx (P=0.006), older age (P=0.038), total PSA >10 (P=0.002), but not with prostate volume, benign disease subgroups or Gleason score (Gleason score=6 vs. Gleason score>6). Conclusions: NLR may be used to predict potential PCa in patients who underwent TRUS bx.