title: Evaluation of neck lymph node dissection for thoracic esophageal carcinoma.
abstract: We studied a series of 150 patients treated for thoracic esophageal carcinoma at our institution. The patients were divided into two matched groups. Group B underwent transthoracic esophagectomy with mediastinal and abdominal lymphadenectomy only; group A also underwent bilateral neck lymph node dissection. The rates of operative mortality and operative complications did not differ significantly between the two groups. The 5-year survival rate was 38.7% overall (48.7% in group A and 33.7% in group B). Group A had a significantly better survival curve than group B. Twenty patients (26.0%) in group A had metastasis in the dissected neck lymph nodes. The 4-year survival rate of these patients was 47.9%. The significantly better survival of group A and the satisfactory prognosis in the patients with positive cervical lymph nodes demonstrates the effectiveness of neck lymph node dissection in radical operation for thoracic esophageal carcinoma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, National Cancer Center Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kato
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tachimori
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Iizuka
mesh_terms: D000005:Abdomen; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008197:Lymph Node Excision / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008482:Mediastinum; D008875:Middle Aged; D009333:Neck; D011183:Postoperative Complications; D015996:Survival Rate