Effect of the number of lymph nodes harvested on the long-term survival of gastric cancer patients of different tumor location

Abstract

Objective To explore the effect of the number of lymph nodes harvested on the long-term survival of gastric cancer patients of different tumor location. Methods 1 637 cases of gastric cancer with complete clinicopathological data were collected retrospectively in Peking University People′s Hospital from January of 1998 to December of 2009. The overall survival(OS) and progression free survival (PFS) were analyzed by tumor stage and the number of lymph nodes harvested, as well as the effect of the number of lymph nodes harvested on the prognosis of gastric cancer with different tumor location was investigated. Results There was no significant difference between the survival of patients with tumor located at distal stomach and the stomach body, but the prognosis of both was better than those with tumor located at proximal stomach (OS: P<0.01; PFS: P<0.01) and that of whole stomach (OS: P<0.01; PFS: P<0.01). The number of lymph nodes harvested was related to the PFS of patients with gastric body cancer, in which lymph nodes harvested 15-29 having significant better PFS than those with lymph nodes harvested ≤14 (P=0.009), but harvested lymph nodes ≥30 failing to yield better PFS (P=0.195) and PFS (P=0.172). The number of lymph nodes harvested had no relationship with the survival of patients with tumor located at proximal stomach, distal stomach and whole stomach. Conclusion Higher number of lymph nodes harvested might bring better survival, by an extent varying with tumor location. Key words: Stomach neoplasms; Lymph node excision; Prognosis