Prognostic value of systemic immune-inflammation index in head and neck carcinoma patients undergoing definitive radio(chemo)therapy

Abstract


 Background: 
 The aim of this study is to investigate the prognostic effect of the systemic immune-inflammation index (SII) in non-surgically managed head and neck carcinoma patients who underwent definitive radio(chemo)therapy.
 Methods: 
 Twenty four patients who were all treated with radio(chemo)terapy with curative intent for head and neck cancer (HNC) were included in the study. All patients were analyzed in terms of age at diagnosis, gender, body mass index, stage, radiotherapy dose/ fraction, chemotherapy (CT), pre-treatment complete blood count parameters, the pre-treatment systemic immune-inflammation index, local relapse, distant failure, overall survival (OS), and disease-free survival (DFS).
 Results:
 SII index was observed to be higher in locally advanced patients than in stage I/II patients (p=0.004). In addition, as a result of the evaluation made with ROC (receiver operating characteristic) analysis, it was observed that the SII index had a diagnostic value in predicting locally advanced disease (AUC:0.867, 95% CI :0.721-1.00, p=0.002). DFS and OS rates were 79% and 90% at a median follow-up of 9 months.
 Conclusions:
 The systemic immune-inflammation index predicts more advanced disease in non-surgically managed head and neck cancer patients. It can be considered as a biomarker that can contribute to the management of definitive radio(chemo)therapy.