Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Blood neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio predicts lymphoma outcome
By Park, SoYoung et al.·Published in Veterinary and comparative oncology·2024·College of Veterinary Medicine and Research Institute for Veterinary Science, South Korea·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Blood Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte Ratio as a Potential Prognostic Marker in Dogs ≤10 kg With Multicentric Lymphoma.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A small dog weighing 10 kg or less diagnosed with multicentric lymphoma (a type of cancer) may have a worse prognosis if their blood tests show a high neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR). In a study of 35 dogs, those with an NLR above 3.764 were found to have a higher risk of disease progression and shorter survival times. The findings suggest that monitoring NLR could help veterinarians predict how well a dog with this type of lymphoma might respond to treatment. Overall, dogs with more advanced stages of the disease showed quicker progression and lower survival rates.
People also search for: dog lymphoma prognosis · small dog cancer treatment · neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio in dogs
Abstract
Canine lymphoma, the most prevalent haematopoietic tumour in dogs, presents significant challenges in veterinary oncology. This study investigates the prognostic value of the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in small-sized dogs (≤10 kg) with multicentric lymphoma. In this retrospective study, we examined medical records and haematological data from 35 dogs to assess the association between NLR and two key outcomes: time-to-progression (TTP) and lymphoma-specific survival (LSS) using Cox proportional hazards models. Our findings revealed a significant correlation between elevated NLR and a worse prognosis, as evidenced by TTP (p = 0.005) and LSS (p = 0.001). NLR is linked to increased hazard ratios (HRs) for the time-to-progression rate (TTPR) at 180, 360 and 540 days (p = 0.001, p = 0.003 and p = 0.005, respectively) and the lymphoma-specific survival rate (LSSR) at the same intervals (p = 0.016, p = 0.001 and p = 0.001, respectively). Cutoff value of 3.764 for NLR was established, above which there is a significantly increased risk of early disease progression and decreased survival. Additionally, our analysis indicates that dogs with substage b exhibited earlier progression than those with substage a, evident in overall (p = 0.026) and TTPR at 180 days (p = 0.004), 360 days (p = 0.018), 540 days (p = 0.026) and LSSR at 180 days (p = 0.033). The results underscore the potential of NLR as a prognostic marker in cases of dogs ≤10 kg with multicentric lymphoma, suggesting that higher NLR is associated with a poorer prognosis.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39090848/