No abstract

Our findings suggest that the bacteria colonizing nasal polyps of CRSwNP patients may impact on or be determined by the presence/absence of IL-5.

The association between neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) is undecided. To rectify this question, we conducted a systematic meta-analysis based on 7 prospective cohort studies published between 2013 and 2015, comprising 7349 patients. Six of these cohorts included pretreatment (baseline) NLR data for patients with thyroid nodules. The meta-analysis of these 6 cohorts showed that the NLR of patients with DTC (4617 cases) was statistically similar to patients with benign nodules only (1666 cases), with a mean difference (MD) of 0.19 (95% CI: −0.09 to 0.46; I2 = 93%; P < 0.001). No significant difference in NLR was found between patients with DTC and patients with benign nodules. Two studies addressed an association between NLR and papillary thyroid carcinoma in patients stratified by age <45 and ≥45 years (496 and 891 cases, respectively); the pooled MD was 0.09 (95% CI: −0.37 to 0.55; I2 = 92.2%, P < 0.001). An elevated NLR seems not a reliable indicator of progressing DTC in patients with goiters, and there was no difference in NLR between patients aged <45 years and those aged ≥45 years. Well-designed and large-scale investigations are warranted to understand the value of NLR in the prognosis of DTC.

BackgroundChronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) is a common heterogenous disease in the patients with chronic airway diseases. This study investigated the role of blood eosinophil count (BEC) in the classification of CRSwNP and its recurrence in eosinophilic CRSwNP.MethodsSixty‐five patients who underwent nasal endoscopic resection of CRSwNP were recruited and divided into eosinophilic CRSwNP and non‐eosinophilic CRSwNP groups based on the levels (10% cutoff) of eosinophil infiltration as indicated by hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining.ResultsWe recruited 30 patients in the eosinophilic CRSwNP group and 35 patients in the non‐eosinophilic CRSwNP group. The outcome of preoperative visual analogue scale (VAS) score, preoperative Lund‐Mackay score, and preoperative Lund‐Kennedy score between the 2 groups were comparable. The level of BEC in the eosinophilic CRSwNP group was significantly higher than that of non‐eosinophilic CRSwNP group (0.79 ± 0.27 × 109/L vs 0.30 ± 0.22 × 109/L; p < 0.001). We observed a statistical significance in the number of H&E eosinophils (29.11 ± 2.93 vs 3.17 ± 0.51; p < 0.001) and CRSwNP phenotypes (eosinophilic/non‐eosinophilic, 28/3 vs 2/32; p < 0.001) when the cutoff value of BEC was set at 0.39 × 109/L. The disease‐free recurrence (DFR) was found to be statistically significant when the cutoff value of BEC was 0.73 × 109/L in eosinophilic CRSwNP (p = 0.009).ConclusionResults indicate that BEC may be capable of distinguishing CRSwNP phenotypes as well as predicting polyp recurrence in eosinophilic CRSwNP. Given the relatively small sample size, further studies will be necessary to confirm a role for BEC as a systemic biomarker in CRSwNP.