title: Impact of the ratio of metastatic to examined lymph nodes on the survival of early-stage cervical cancer patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The aim of the study was to determine the impact of the ratio of metastatic to examined lymph nodes (LN) on the survival of early-stage cervical cancer patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective review was performed of all patients undergoing primary radical hysterectomy and pelvicparaaortic lymphadenectomy for stage I-II cervical cancer at the Ankara Oncology Hospital from 1995 to 2000. Survival was determined by Kaplan-Meier method and differences were assessed by log-rank test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 2,085 LN were examined. Nodal metastasis was found in 22.1% of the patients. Patients with zero involved LN had a 5-year survival of 89.19%, while patients with 1 positive LN and > 1 positive LNs had a 5-year survival of 100 and 76.92%, respectively. The difference in survival among these three groups was not statistically significant. The 5-year survival rates according to the metastatic/examined LN ratio (LNR) were 75, 90, and 89.19% in the groups of patients with LNR >10, 1-10, and 0%, respectively. The difference in survival among these three groups was not statistically significant.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This factor might be helpful for a better prognostic discrimination of patients with metastatic LN. The stratification of node-positive cervical cancer for prognostic and treatment purposes warrants further investigation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gynecology, Ankara Oncology Education and Research Hospital, Turkey. jmetindir@ttnet.net.tr
authors.forename: Jale
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Metindir
authors.forename: Gülay
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bilir
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000473:pathology*; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D016019:Survival Analysis; D015996:Survival Rate; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology*; D055815:Young Adult