Quantitative analysis on lymph node metastasis of the gastric cancer

To assess the prognostic relevance of the number of the metastatic nodes, we retrospectively studied 926 resected gastric cancers clinicopathologically. Patients might be separated into four groups as regards survival rates, namely those with no metastatic nodes, those with one to two metastatic nodes, those with three to eleven and those with more than twelve. There were significant prognostic differences among any matching. By the current grouping method of the lymph node, the metastatic position(level) of the involved nodes predicted the outcome of the patients very well. The number of involved nodes also correlated with its prognosis well. Although the latter was more simple, the grouping of the nodes should be employed because we could know the extent and the quality of the surgery at the same time.