Role of Neutrophil Lymphocyte Ratio, Platelet Lymphocyte Ratio and Lymphocyte Monocyte Ratio in Benign Nodular Goitre and Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma

Abstract

Introduction: Inflammation has been widely accepted to play an important role in carcinoma development. There have been conflicting studies regarding systemic inflammatory markers such as neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio(NLR), lymphocyte-monocyte ratio (LMR), and platelet-lymphocyte ratio(PLR)in thyroid lesions.

Aim:The aim was to analyze the association of these inflammatory biomarkers in benign and malignant thyroid lesions, as well as with other clinicopathological variables.

Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective study over a period of 2 years in a tertiary care center, comprising 30 patients diagnosed with benign nodular goiter (NG) and 30 patients diagnosed with papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). Neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio(NLR), platelet–lymphocyte ratio (PLR), and lymphocyte-monocyte ratio (LMR) were analysed with the type of lesion and other clinicopathological variables as well.

Results: Both NLR and PLR showed significant associations to tumour size (p= 0.0104, p=0.03805, respectively) and lymph-node metastasis in papillary thyroid carcinomap=0.02019, p= 0.036, respectively) LMR did not show statistical significance to tumour size and lympho-nodal metastasis (p=0.117, p=0.346, respectively).NLR, PLR , and LMR were not significantly increased in cases of papillary thyroid cancer when compared to cases of benign nodular goiter (p=0.933, p=0.108,p=0.778. respectively)

Conclusion: This study indicates that NLR and PLR can be used as readily available alternative markers to help improve the prognostic assessment of patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma.