167. LYMPHATIC INVASION CAN PREDICT POSTOPERATIVE LYMPH NODE RECURRENCE IN PATIENTS WITH ESOPHAGEAL SQUAMOUS CELL CARCINOMA

Abstract

Abstract Lymph node metastasis is an important pathological feature of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), and previous studies have confirmed that patients with lymphatic invasion (LI) have poor prognosis. However, the correlation between LI and pathological N stage and its impact on patient prognosis are less studied. Patients with ESCC who underwent radical esophagectomy in our center were included in a retrospective analysis, and LI was assessed using hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining and D2–40 immunohistochemistry (IHC). Correlations between PI and clinicopathological features and clinical outcomes were also analyzed. Totally, LI presented in ESCC were 22.5% (86 of 383). LI was closely related to the pN stage, with the pN stage from N0 to N1, then to N2, and finally to N3, the incidence of LI gradually increased from 1% to 40%. Furthermore, PNI-positive patients had poorer disease-free survival (DFS) than PNI-negative patients (21.0 months vs 41.4 months, P < 0.001), the same result was obtained in OS (26.4 months vs 56.4 months, P < 0.001). Finally, the probability of postoperative lymph node recurrence in LI-positive patients was significantly higher than that in LI-negative patients (20.9% vs 18.5%, P = 0.026). LI is related to pN stage of ESCC patients. It is also an important predictor of postoperative lymph node recurrence in patients with ESCC.