Total Peripheral Lymphocyte Count in Malignant Tumors: An Index of Prognostication

The present study was planned to explore the influence of total peripheral lymphocyte count in cancer patients and to ascertain its prognostic significance. 100 cases were divided into 2 groups: test group comprised of 75 cancerous cases and control group of 25 cases who did not suffer from any problem known to alter the immune status. After a detailed clinical history and examination, routine investigations and certain specific investigations like ultra-sonography, intravenous pyelography, computed tomography, fine needle aspiration cytology and histopathology were performed. Total Leukocyte Count (TLC) using Turk’s fluid was performed along with differential count from peripheral smear and Total Peripheral Lymphocyte Count (TPLC) was calculated by the formula: TPLC = TLC x percentage of lymphocytes in differential count. Majority of the malignant cases belonged to the fifth decade. Histologically, carcinoma was most frequent, 92.0% cases, followed by sarcoma, 6.6% and melanoma, 1.3% cases. The mean TPLC in the control group was 2759.12±955.7 and it was significantly depressed in all the malignant cases. In breast carcinoma, TPLC was found to decrease with disease progression and was stage dependent. TPLC shows promise as a diagnostic and prognostic indicator of malignancy.