Prognosis of patients with T2N0 tumors in the alimentary tract: should they be considered as early cancers?
BACKGROUND
T1N0 tumor of the alimentary tract has an excellent long-term prognosis, however, the prognosis of T2N0 tumor has not been uniformly elucidated.


METHODS
Between February 1981 and April 2000, 75, 424 and 327 patients with node-negative esophageal, gastric and colorectal carcinomas, respectively, underwent curative resection and were included in this study. Long-term prognosis of those node-negative patients stratified by the T-stage were evaluated retrospectively.


RESULTS
The 5-year survival rates of patients with T1N0 and T2N0 esophageal tumors were 95.7 and 93.3%, respectively, however those with T3N0 tumor was only 47.6% (p < 0.01). Similarly, the 5-year survival rates of gastric cancer patients with T1-2N0 tumors was 100%, however those with T3N0 and T4N0 tumors were 55.6 and 44.4%, respectively (p < 0.01). The 5-year survival rates of colorectal cancer patients with T1N0 and T2N0 tumors were 97.3 and 97.5%, respectively. In contrast, those with T3N0 and T4N0 tumors were 78.6 and 58.3%, respectively (p < 0.05, T1N0, T2N0 vs. T3N0; p < 0.001, vs. T4N0).


CONCLUSIONS
Patients with T2N0 tumors have an excellent long-term prognosis like T1N0 tumors and both categories could be classified as early cancer in the alimentary tract cancers.
Tachibana
Mitsuo
M
Second Department of Surgery, Shimane Medical University, Izumo, Shimane, Japan. nigeka35@shimane-med.ac.jp
Dhar
Dipok Kumar
DK
Kinugasa
Shoichi
S
Yoshimura
Hiroshi
H
Shibakita
Muneaki
M
Fujii
Toshiyuki
T
Ueda
Shuhei
S
Kubota
Hirofumi
H
Kohno
Hitoshi
H
Nagasue
Naofumi
N
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000401:mortality* / Q000601:surgery; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000401:mortality* / Q000601:surgery; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality* / Q000601:surgery; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality* / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality* / Q000601:surgery; D015996:Survival Rate; D013997:Time Factors