Prospective study of prognostic significance of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio in hepatocellular carcinoma

A prospective study in the UK included patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and patients with chronic liver disease (CLD) without HCC. On entry in the study there was no clinically significant difference in neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) between both groups. Among HCC patients, but not among CLD patients, NLR levels closest to last visit or death were significantly higher compared to baseline. HCC patients with NLR below the median had significantly longer overall survival compared with HCC patients with NLR above the median.