Predicting outcome after percutaneous balloon mitral commissurotomy: Role of neutrophil–lymphocyte ratio

Background: The value of the neutrophil–lymphocyte ratio (NLR) along with the severity of mitral stenosis (MS) in predicting the outcome of percutaneous balloon mitral commissurotomy (PBMC) has not been studied. Patients and methods: Patients with severe MS undergoing PBMC between 2013 and 2014 in a university hospital were prospectively enrolled. Complete blood cell count was obtained upon admission and NLRs were calculated. The correlations between NLR with immediate PBMC success and restenosis in 1 year were evaluated. Results: In all, 102 patients (80 women) with a mean age of 44.5 ± 13.1 years were enrolled in the study. NLR on admission was 2.6 ± 0.8 and mitral valve area (MVA) was 0.89 ± 0.18 cm². Patients with a lower MVA at baseline had a higher NLR (p = 0.016). The rate of immediate success was 63 % for PBMC. There was no difference in NLR between patients with regard to early and late failures, as well as those who developed restenosis of the valve. Smaller valve area and the rate of valvular dilatation during PBMC were the only independent factors that predicted early and late failure, respectively. Conclusion: NLR at the time of treatment was not useful in predicting procedural outcome or restenosis during follow-up of patients undergoing PBMC.