Prognostic impact of lymphatic invasion in patients with node-negative gastric cancer.
OBJECTIVE
This study investigated the prognostic impact of lymphatic invasion on the outcome of patients with node-negative gastric cancer.


METHODS
A total of 828 patients with node-negative gastric cancer who underwent curative gastrectomy were reviewed retrospectively. The clinicopathological features and prognoses of patients with lymphatic invasion were compared to those of patients without such invasion.


RESULTS
The total rate of lymphatic invasion was 18.2% in node-negative gastric cancers, with a significant difference between early gastric cancers (9.8%) and advanced gastric cancers (49.2%). The presence of lymphatic invasion correlated significantly with tumor location, size and depth of tumor (P < 0.01). Lymphatic invasion was significantly associated with a poorer overall survival in node-negative gastric cancer patients on univariate analysis (P < 0.001) as well as multivariate analysis (P < 0.01).


CONCLUSIONS
Lymphatic invasion provides additional useful information that could be applied to identify patients at high risk for recurrence who might be candidates for adjuvant therapies in patients with node-negative gastric cancers.
Ichikawa
Daisuke
D
Division of Digestive Surgery, Department of Surgery, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan. ichikawa@koto.kpu-m.ac.jp
Kubota
Takeshi
T
Kikuchi
Shojiro
S
Fujiwara
Hitoshi
H
Konishi
Hirotaka
H
Tsujiura
Masahiro
M
Ikoma
Hisashi
H
Nakanishi
Masayoshi
M
Okamoto
Kazuma
K
Sakakura
Chohei
C
Ochiai
Toshiya
T
Kokuba
Yukihito
Y
Otsuji
Eigo
E
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D042601:Lymphatic Vessels / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D011379:Prognosis; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*