Association of the number of metastatic perigastric lymph nodes with long-term survival in gastric cancer.
OBJECTIVE
The presence of metastases in lymph nodes is an important prognostic factor in patients with gastric cancer. Currently, the total number of metastatic lymph nodes (MLN) is thought to be more prognostically significant than the anatomical distribution of MLN.


METHODS
The associations of the total number of MLN and of the number of perigastric (PG) MLN with long-term survival were retrospectively evaluated using uni- and multivariate analysis in 481 nodepositive gastric cancer patients who underwent potentially curative resections.


RESULTS
The number of PG MLN was a better prognostic indicator than the total number of MLN (indices of correlation 0.2908 and 0.3424, respectively). Good surgical results were obtained in patients with 5 PG MLN or fewer.


CONCLUSIONS
The number of perigastric metastatic lymph nodes is a more conveniently obtained and reliable prognostic factor than the total number of metastatic lymph nodes in patients with node-positive gastric cancer.
Chikara
Kunisaki
K
Second Department of Surgery, Yokohama City University, School of Medicine, Yokohama, Japan. s0714@med.yokohama-cu.ac.jp
Hiroshi
Shimada
S
Masato
Nomura
N
Goro
Matsuda
M
Yuichi
Otsuka
O
Hidetaka
Ono
O
Hirotoshi
Akiyama
A
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D005743:Gastrectomy; D006801:Humans; D008197:Lymph Node Excision; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000473:pathology*; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013270:Stomach; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D015996:Survival Rate