Of the 317 total patients, Ojerholm and his team identified 230 for a prognostic analysis to see if NLR could serve as a predictor of how long patients would live after curative treatment. They identified 263 others for a predictive analysis to see if NLR could tell which patients would respond to chemotherapy. There was a median follow-up of 18.6 years.
For the prognostic analysis, NLR was not a significant factor in overall survival. The important factors were age and whether the patient received pre-surgery chemotherapy. For the predictive analysis, NLR did not predict which patients benefitted from chemotherapy.
Ad Statistics
Times Displayed: 23122
Times Visited: 497 Stay up to date with the latest training to fix, troubleshoot, and maintain your critical care devices. GE HealthCare offers multiple training formats to empower teams and expand knowledge, saving you time and money
On the question of why most previous publications supported NLR as a biomarker, Ojerholm pointed to several factors beyond methodology and statistical design.
"There’s also the problem of publication bias,” Ojerholm explained. “Sometimes authors won’t submit negative results, and sometimes journals won’t accept them. That could be a real issue as NLR research continues.”
Ojerholm stressed that no single study is definitive, and doctors must weigh results from the entire literature.
“Yet this study does raise questions about NLR for bladder cancer,” Ojerholm added, “and we need more evidence before using this biomarker in clinical practice.”
Additional Penn authors of this study include Andrew Smith, Wei-Ting Hwang, Brian Baumann, Kai Tucker, Ronac Mamtani, Ben Boursi, and John Christodouleas.
Back to HCB News
