Absolute neutrophil count predicts postoperative prognosis in mass-forming intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma

Background/Aim: Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (IHCC) is characterized by poor prognosis, and postoperative recurrence remains a problem. Thus, prognostic markers for IHCC are greatly needed. Recently, inflammatory factors were reported to be related to tumor progression and recurrence in various cancers. Therefore, the present study aimed to evaluate the prognostic ability of inflammatory factors. Materials and Methods: Forty-four patients with mass-forming IHCC (m-IHCC) were retrospectively evaluated and the correlations between inflammatory markers, including neutrophil–to–lymphocyte ratio and, modified Glasgow prognostic score, and patient survival were assessed. Results: The absolute neutrophil count (ANC) was significantly higher in the recurrence group than in the non-recurrence group (p=0.00568) and the most significant prognostic factor by multivariate analysis. Poor recurrence-free survival (RFS; p=0.00452) and cancer-specific survival (CSS; p=0.0323) were associated with high neutrophil levels. Moreover, neutrophil infiltration in the tumor site was positively correlated with ANC. Conclusion: ANC is associated with poor RFS, and could be used to predict recurrence in patients with m-IHCC.