title: Prognostic impact of lymphatic invasion in patients with node-negative gastric cancer.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Division of Digestive Surgery, Department of Surgery, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan. ichikawa@koto.kpu-m.ac.jp
authors.forename: Daisuke
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ichikawa
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kubota
authors.forename: Shojiro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kikuchi
authors.forename: Hitoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fujiwara
authors.forename: Hirotaka
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Konishi
authors.forename: Masahiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tsujiura
authors.forename: Hisashi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ikoma
authors.forename: Masayoshi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nakanishi
authors.forename: Kazuma
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Okamoto
authors.forename: Chohei
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sakakura
authors.forename: Toshiya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ochiai
authors.forename: Yukihito
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kokuba
authors.forename: Eigo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Otsuji
mesh_terms: 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*