2Professor MD, Sağlık Bilimleri University, Istanbul Education and Research Hospital, İstanbul, Turkey DOI : 10.37844/glauc.cat.2021.16.33 Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the inflammatory state in patients with primary or recurrent pterygium by utilizing the neutrophils-lymphocytes ratio (NLR).
Materials and Methods: We reviewed the medical records of the patients diagnosed with primary or recurrent pterygium retrospectively. The control group comprised of randomly selected patients who underwent strabismus or blepharoplasty surgery. Complete blood count values were obtained from routine preoperative laboratory examinations in the study and control groups. The NLR was calculated by dividing the neutrophils count by the lymphocytes count.
Results: The study enrolled 374 patients, including 178 patients with primary pterygium, 178 patients as controls, and 18 patients with recurrent pterygium. The average NLR was markedly higher in the recurrent pterygium group compared to the other groups (p=0.016). The primary pterygium and control groups were similar with respect to the mean NLR (p= 1.000). The area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) curve value of the NLR, which distinguished patients with recurrent pterygium from those with primary pterygium, was found to be 0.699. The best cutoff value was 1.92, with a sensitivity of 77.8% and a specificity of 60.1%.
Conclusion: Patients with recurrent pterygium showed a higher NLR compared to those in the other groups. The NLR is not a reliable biomarker of primary pterygium. However, the NLR can be used as a reliable, simple, and inexpensive biomarker of recurrent pterygium.
Keywords : Inflammation, neutrophils-lymphocytes ratio, primary pterygium, pterygium, recurrent