Elevated preoperative neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio as a predictor of increased long-term survival in minimal invasive coronary artery bypass surgery compared to sternotomy

Background: Neutrophil lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is a predictor of major adverse cardiovascular outcomes. Our study explores the value of NLR in predicting long-term mortality after minimally invasive coronary artery bypass surgery (MICS) via lateral left-thoracotomy versus conventional sternotomy coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) surgery. Methods: A total of 1126 consecutive patients (729 sternotomy CABG and 397 MICS) from a single tertiary center between 2005 and 2008 were followed until 2011. We stratified the patients into equal tertiles according to preoperative NLR. The primary outcome, all-cause mortality, was compared among the NLR tertiles. Results: Out of the 1126 patients included in the study, 1030 (91%) patients underwent off-pump CABG. The first (NLR <2.3) tertile had a significantly lower 5-year mortality (30/371 =8%) in comparison to the second (NLR =2.3-3.4) and third (NLR >= 3.5) tertiles (49/375 =13% and 75/380 =20%), respectively with p < 0.0001. After multivariate adjustment, NLR was a significant independent predictor of mortality (hazard ratio [HR] per each unit increase of NLR was 1.05, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.01-1.10, p = 0.008). MICS and sternotomy CABG groups with NLR <3 had similar mortality (21/221 = 9.5% and 40/403 = 9.9%), p = 1. However among patients with NLR >= 3, MICS had a significantly lower mortality (23/176 = 13.1%) compared to the sternotomy CABG (70/326 =21.5%), p = 0.02. According to the multivariate analysis of patients with NLR >= 3, MICS had a significantly lower mortality compared to sternotomy CABG (HR = 0.44, 95% CI 0.24-0.78, p = 0.005). Conclusion: Elevated preoperative NLR is an independent predictor of long-term mortality after CABG. Among the patients with NLR >= 3, MICS was associated with a significantly improved survival compared with sternotomy CABG.