title: Clinical significance of the metastatic lymph-node ratio in early gastric cancer.
abstract: The metastatic lymph-node ratio has important prognostic value in gastric cancer; this study focused on its significance in early gastric cancer. In total, 1,472 patients with early gastric cancer underwent curative gastrectomy between 1992 and 2001. Of these, 166 (11.3%) had histologically proven lymph-node metastasis. Prognostic factors were identified by univariate and multivariate analyses. Metastasis was evaluated using the Japanese Classification of Gastric Carcinoma (JGC) and the Union Internationale Contre le Cancer/Tumor, Node, Metastasis (UICC/TNM) Classification. The metastatic lymph-node ratio was calculated using the hazard ratio. The cut-off values for the metastatic lymph-node ratio were set at 0, <0.15, >or=0.15 to <0.30, and >or=0.30. The numbers of dissected and metastatic lymph nodes were correlated, but the number of dissected lymph nodes and the metastatic lymph-node ratio was not related. The JGC and UICC/TNM classification demonstrated stage migration and heterogeneous stratification for disease-specific survival. The metastatic lymph-node ratio showed less stage migration and homogenous stratification. The metastatic lymph-node ratio may be a superior method of classification, which provides also accurate prognostic stratification for early gastric cancer patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Gastroenterological Center, Yokohama City University Graduate School of Medicine, 4-57 Urafune-cho, Minami-ku, Yokohama, 232-0024, Japan. s0714@med.yokohama-cu.ac.jp
authors.forename: Chikara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kunisaki
authors.forename: Hirochika
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Makino
authors.forename: Hirotoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Akiyama
authors.forename: Yuichi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Otsuka
authors.forename: Hidetaka A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Ono
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kosaka
authors.forename: Ryo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Takagawa
authors.forename: Yutaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nagahori
authors.forename: Masazumi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.forename: Fumihiko
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kito
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shimada
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging / Q000145:classification*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology*; D016019:Survival Analysis