Neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio as an indicator of prostate cancer in biopsy tests

Neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is a simple marker of a system inflammatory response, which can act as an independent prognostic factor for several solid malignant tumors, such as prostate cancer, whose diagnostics is an urgent problem of modern urology. Materials and methods. In our study, we evaluated the role of NLR in male patients, who have undergone prostate biopsy aimed at primary diagnostics of prostate cancer. We have examined the data obtained from complete blood count and assays for prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and its free fraction in 1075 male patients. In 236 patients, the level of PSA was in the “gray zone” (4.0-10.0 ng/ml). They were subjected to transrectal biopsy. The analysis was performed using Mann-Whitney U test and chi-square test. Results. NLR was found to be significantly higher in those men, whose PSA level more than 20 ng/ml, in comparison to other patients (p