Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte Ratio as a Risk Determinant of Hemorrhage Transformation in Acute Ischemic Stroke

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the clinical significance between neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and classification of non-thrombolytic hemorrhagic transformation (HT) in acute ischemic stroke (AIS), to unravel new diagnostic approach. Methods: We recruited and selected 636 patients who did not undergo thrombolytic therapy between May 2018 and April 2019 at the Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University. The laboratory and clinical data were collected within 24 h after the onset of AIS. Based on the status of HT development during hospitalization, all participants were divided into three groups, namely, the non-HT (NHT) group, hemorrhagic infarction (HI) group, and parenchymal hematoma (PH) group. Results: Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that NLR and the ischemic lesion diameter are independent risk factors of HI and PH, while the score of National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) and cardioembolism are considered to be independent risk factors for PH only. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis determined that the optimal cutoff values of NLR in HI group and PH group were 3.75 and 3.97, respectively. The optimal cutoff value can be used as the critical value for the unfavorable outcome. Conclusion: NLR values were significantly increased and correlated with both HI and PH groups and NLR could be used as a predictor of both HI and PH.