Neutrophil Lymphocyte Ratio as a Predictor of Recurrence of Hepatocellular Carcinoma after Liver Transplantation

Abstract

This study was conducted in Ain Shams Center for Organ Transplantation (ASCOT) to evaluate NLR as a predictor of HCC recurrence after LDLT. It included 47 patients underwent liver transplantation for HCC, recurrence occurred in 8.5% of patients. The median NLR was higher in patients with HCC recurrence (2.97) than patients without recurrence (2.15), but it was not statistically significant. Median NLR had a positive correlation with patient's Child and MELD scores; it was higher in patients with HCC lesions more than 3 in number, patients with advanced BCLC staging system and in patients who didn’t receive pre-operative down staging or bridging therapy. NLR may be affected by factors other than tumor characteristics as it had a positive correlation with patients’ age. In conclusion, NLR should be considered in pre-operative evaluation of patients with HCC who are listed for liver transplantation, its use as a predictor of HCC recurrence besides other tumor dimensional aspects should be further evaluated after dedicated large scale multi-center studies.