Prognostic significance of the number of metastatic lymph nodes in early gastric cancer.
BACKGROUND
The prognostic value of the number of metastatic lymph nodes in early gastric cancer has not been evaluated much, although the significance of metastatic lymph nodes is defined by the location of positive nodes, according to the JRSGC for gastric cancer.


METHODS
The postoperative courses of 305 early gastric cancer patients who had undergone D2-extended lymphadenectomy were followed up for a median of 108 months to evaluate the significance of the number of metastatic lymph nodes on recurrence of the disease.


RESULTS
Recurrence of gastric cancer was more frequently observed in submucosal cancer than in mucosal cancer. All patients but one who revealed recurrence had nodal metastasis at the time of surgery. In cases with 1-3 metastatic lymph nodes, no patient had revealed any sign of recurrence; however, in cases with 4 or more metastatic lymph nodes, 6 of 7 patients died of recurrent disease. There were 3 cases of bone metastases, 2 of peritoneal dissemination, and 1 each of both recurrent diseases.


CONCLUSIONS
These data suggest that in n-positive cases, in which there are 4 or more metastatic lymph nodes, there is a high probability of recurrence of early gastric cancer, and especially of hematogenic metastasis.
Gunji
Y
Y
Department of Academic Surgery (M9), Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chuou-ku, Chiba, Japan.
Suzuki
T
T
Hori
S
S
Hayashi
H
H
Matsubara
H
H
Shimada
H
H
Ochiai
T
T
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology / Q000556:secondary* / Q000601:surgery; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001707:Biopsy, Needle; D002423:Cause of Death; D015331:Cohort Studies; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D005743:Gastrectomy / Q000379:methods; D005753:Gastric Mucosa / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D008197:Lymph Node Excision; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000473:pathology*; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011336:Probability; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D015996:Survival Rate; D016896:Treatment Outcome