Para-aortic node involvement is not an independent predictor of survival after resection for pancreatic cancer

AIM To analyze the importance of para-aortic node status in a series of patients who underwent pancreatico-duodenectomy (PD) in a single Institution. METHODS Between January 2000 and December 2012, 151 patients underwent PD with para-aortic node dissection for pancreatic adenocarcinoma in our Institution. Patients were divided into two groups: patients with negative PALNs (PALNs-), and patients with metastatic PALNs (PALNs+). Pathologic factors, including stage, nodal status, number of positive nodes and lymph node ratio, invasion of para-aortic nodes, tumor's grading, and radicality of resection were studied by univariate and multivariate analysis. Survival curves were constructed with Kaplan-Meier method and compared with Log-rank test: significance was considered as p < 0.05. RESULTS A total of 107 patients (74%) had nodal metastases. Median number of pathologically assessed lymph nodes was 26 (range 14-63). Twenty-five patients (16.5%) had para-aortic lymph node involvement. Thirty-three patients (23%) underwent R1 pancreatic resection. One-undred forty-one patients recurred and died for tumor recurrence, one is alive with recurrence, and 9 are alive and free of disease. Overall survival was significantly influenced by grading (p = 0.0001), radicality of resection (p = 0.001), stage (p = 0.03), lymph node status (p = 0.04), para-aortic nodes metastases (p = 0.02). Multivariate analysis showed that grading was an independent prognostic factor for overall survival (p = 0.0001), while grading (p = 0.0001) and radicality of resection (p = 0.01) were prognostic parameters for disease-free survival. Number of metastatic nodes, node ratio, and para-aortic nodes involvement were not independent predictors of disease-free and overall survival. CONCLUSION In this experience, lymph node status and para-aortic node metastases were associated with poor survival at univariate analysis, but they were not independent prognostic factors.