Can Neutrophil Lymphocyte Ratio Predict the Thrombus Localization in Patient with Acute Pulmonary Embolism?

Objective: Acute pulmonary embolism (PE), often seen in the emergency department, is a life threatening disease. The aim of this study was to determine the associations of thrombus localization with white blood cell (WBC) subtypes, including the neutrophil lymphocyte ratio (NLR). Material-Method:We retrospectively analysed the data of patients who were diagnosed with acute PE admitted from 1 January 2017 to 30 June 2018. The accompanying disorders, risk factors, clinical, laboratory and radiological findings were retrospectively evaluated. Results: The mean age of the patients was 63.40±17.11 years and 119 (53.1%) patients were female. The most frequent complaint was dyspnea (62.5%), most frequent coexisting disease was chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (30.4%), immobilization (21.4%) was the most frequently seen risk factor. Thrombus was mostly in bilateral pulmonary artery (PA) (45.9%). In 46.4% of the patients, the thrombus was localized to the lobar PA. The mean WBC, neutrophil, platelet distribution width and NLR in the patients with thrombus in the main PA were higher than those in the patients with thrombus in more distal PA branches. The parameter with the highest sensitivity and specificity was found as NLR. Conclusions: High NLR is independently associated with proximally localized thrombus in patients with PE