title: Prognostic value of positive lymph nodes in rectal cancer.
abstract: Abdominal "curative" resections for rectal cancer in 109 patients with positive lymph nodes were prospectively studied. The best subdivision of patients for predicting outcome was into 1-3 and greater than 3 positive lymph node groups. Comparison with patients with greater than 3 positive lymph nodes demonstrated that patients with 1-3 positive nodes had less local (35.0 percent vs. 13.0 percent; P = 0.007) and less distant recurrence (45.0 percent vs. 26.0 percent; P = 0.04) and had much better crude five-year survival (58.2 percent vs. 17.0 percent; P less than 0.0001). For predicting postsurgical outcome in patients with positive lymph nodes, the results justify subdividing patients into the following two prognostic subgroups: 1) those with 1-3 involved lymph nodes and 2) those with metastatic tumor in four or more lymph nodes.
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks.
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Moran
authors.forename: E C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: James
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Rothenberger
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Goldberg
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000473:pathology*; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000473:pathology; D011379:Prognosis; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012004:Rectal Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D015996:Survival Rate