Abstract (250 limit)ObjectiveWe aimed to investigate the association between the preoperative platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) and venous thromboembolism (VTE) in head and neck cancer (HNC) patients undergoing major surgery.Study DesignRetrospective cohort studySettingAcademic tertiary hospital from 2011 to 2017Subjects and MethodsPatients with confirmed HNC undergoing major surgery were included in this study. The preoperative PLR was recorded for all patients. Known VTE risk factors, including age, sex, smoking, BMI, prior VTE, and anticoagulation were also recorded. Risk factors were screened in univariate analysis using Wilcoxon’s rank sum test and χ2 test (Bonferroni corrected). Significant covariates were subsequently included in a multivariate regression model. Bootstrap techniques were used to obtain credible confidence intervals (CI).ResultsThere were 306 patients enrolled with 7 cases of VTE (6 DVTs and 1 PE). On univariate analysis, length of stay (p = 0.0026), length of surgery (p = 0.0029), and PLR (p = 0.0002) were founded to have significant associations with VTE. A Receiver Operator Characteristic (ROC) curve was constructed, that yielded an AUROC of 0.905 (95% CI: 0.82 - 0.98). Using an optimized cutoff, the multivariate model showed that length of surgery (β 95% CI: 0.0001 - 0.0006; p = 0.0056), and PLR (β 95% CI: 5.3256 - 5.3868; p < 0.0001) were significant independent predictors of VTE.ConclusionThis exploratory pilot study has shown that PLR offers a potentially accurate risk stratification measure as an adjunct to current tools in VTE risk prediction, without additional cost to health systems.Oral PresentationThis data was presented as an oral presentation at the Annual American Academy of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery (AAO-HNSF) Meeting, 13th September 2017
Venous Thromboembolism Risk in Head and Neck Cancer: Significance of the Preoperative Platelet-to-Lymphocyte Ratio
