Lymphadenectomy Improves Survival in Gallbladder Cancer: Data From SEER

Abstract

The association between postoperative survival of node-negative cancer patients and the number of lymph nodes (LNs) examined during surgery has been typically attributed to more accurate staging. However, several recent surgical series have indicated that increasing extent of lymphadenectomy increases survival in several cancers, irrespective of nodal status. The goal of this study is to investigate the association between the number of LNs examined and five-year survival among cases of gallbladder cancer (GBC) reported to the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) population-based cancer registry.