Effect of inflammatory and nutritional factors before chemoradiotherapyon prognosis and survival in head and neck tumor patients

Head and neck cancers (HNC) are malignancies that can occur in the oral cavity, pharynx, larynx, nasal cavity, paranasal sinuses and salivary glands. Systemic inflammatory response and malnutrition have been suggested to be used as prognostic markers in HNC patients in recent studies. The aim of our study was to investigate the role of nutritional and inflammatory markers, which are practical to use daily, in determining the prognosis and survival of patients diagnosed with HNC. In our study, we retrospectively analyzed patients diagnosed with HNC between 2012 and 2022 at Gaziantep University, Department of Medical Oncology. A total of 136 patients, 25 female and 111 male, were included in the study (Female/Male ratio=0.22) Laryngeal cancer was seen in 54, nasopharyngeal cancer in 33, tongue cancer in 18, oropharyngeal cancer in 17, hypopharyngeal cancer, lip cancer, salivary gland cancer, oral cavity cancer in 3 patient each and nasal cavity cancer in 2. The mean age at diagnosis was 56.5 years. In the overall survival time (OS) analysis, the 1-year overall survival rate was 87.6% and the 3-year survival rate was 67.7%. Among the nutritional and inflammatory parameters measured before chemoradiotherapy, albumin (p=0.724), neutrophils (p=0.429), lymphocytes (p=0.642), monocytes (p=0.181), platelets (p=0.819), platelet to lymphocyte ratio (PLR) (p=0, 663), monocyte to lymphocyte ratio (MLR) (p=0.489), pan-immune inflammation value (PIV) (p=0.906), systemic immune inflammation index (SII) (p=0.974) were not associated with OS. On the other hand, low prognostic nutritional index (PNI) (p=0.002, HR=0.101) and high neutrophil lymphocyte ratio (NLR) (p=0.002, HR=4.08) were associated with poor OS. Only neutrophils were associated with progression-free survival (PFS) (p=0.001, HR=1.625). In conclusion, NLR and PNI values, which can be easily measured in practice, can be used to predict OS and neutrophil values can be used to predict PFS in patients with HNC Keywords: Head and Neck Tumor, Prognosis, Survival, Inflammation