Background: gastric cancer is the 5^th most common cancer worldwide, with about one million newly diagnosed cases annually. It causes one of the highest cancer burdens, as measured by disability-adjusted life years lost. It is the third-leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide, after lung and liver malignancies. It is increasingly recognized that variations within clinical outcomes in cancer patients are influenced by not only the oncological characteristics of the tumor, but also the host-response factors. Aim of the work: this study aimed to investigate the prognostic value of prechemotherapy NLR in the gastric cancer patients and also to assess the association between high NLR and clinicopathological features; e.g. tumor stage, site, gross morphology …etc. Patients and methods: this retrospective study included patients, diagnosed with gastric or gastroesophageal cancer, who presented to Oncology Department in Ain Shams University Hospital from January 2013 till December 2016. 61 patients were included in this study. Results: we found a significant correlation between presence of ascites and high NLR. This relation wasn't discussed in any previous study as far as we know. There was a significant correlation between NLR and each of the following: - overall survival and event-free survival. This was consistent with the results of previous studies worldwide. Therefore, our study proved that the prechemotherapy NLR is a prognostic factor in gastric cancer. Conclusion: the prechemotherapy NLR was significantly correlated with presence of ascites at diagnosis of gastric cancer. It is an independent prognostic factor in gastric cancer. It affects both event free survival and overall survival.