Value of the platelet to lymphocyte ratio in the diagnosis of ovarian neoplasms in adolescents.

BACKGROUND: Relationships between poor prognosis of ovarian malignancies and changes in complete blood count parameters have been proposed previously. In this work, we aimed to evaluate clinicopathologic features in adolescents with adnexal masses and sought to establish any predictive value of the platelet to lymphocyte ratio (PLR) in diagnosis.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: This retrospective study was conducted on 196 adolescent females with adnexal masses. Three groups were constituted with respect to clinical or histopathology results: group 1, non-neoplastic patients (n:65); group 2, neoplastic patients (n:68); and group 3 expectantly managed patients (n:63). The main parameters recorded from the hospital database and patient files were age, body mass index (BMI), chief symptoms, diameter of the mass (DOM), tumor marker levels, complete blood count values including absolute neutrophil, lymphocyte, and platelet counts, mean platelet volume, platelet distribution width, and platecrit, surgical features, and postoperative histopathology results.
RESULTS: The expectantly managed patients were younger than the other groups (p=0.007). The mean body mass index (BMI) was higher in the neoplastic group (p=0.016). Preoperative DOM, CA125, mean platelet volume and PLR were statistically significantly different between the groups (p<0.05). ROC curve analysis demonstrated that increased PLR (AUC, 0.609; p=0.011) and BMI (AUC, 0.611; p=0.011) may be discriminative factors in predicting ovarian neoplasms in adolescents preoperatively. When the cut-off point for the PLR level was set to 140, the sensitivity and specificity levels were found to be 65.7% and 57.6%, respectively.
CONCLUSIONS: We suggest that beside a careful preoperative evaluation including clinical characteristics, ultrasonographic features and tumor markers, PLR may predict ovarian neoplasms in adolescents.