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Published on: January 22, 2018
Prognostic effects of lymph node micrometastases in patients undergoing curative gastrectomy for cancer
F Bozzetti1, S Andreola, P Bignami
1Istituto Nazionale per lo Studio e la Cura dei Tumori, Milan, Italy. dottfb@tin.it
Aims & Background:
It is not known whether the presence of micrometastases in the regional lymph nodes has an impact on the oncologic outcome of patients undergoing a curative (R0) gastrectomy for cancer. The aim of the study was to assess the effects of the presence of micrometastases on survival.
Methods:
We reviewed 29 patients operated on for curative (R0) gastrectomy, with a final diagnosis of pN0, 16 or more lymph nodes in the specimen, and a follow-up of at least 4 years. The original hemotoxylin and eosin slides were reviewed, and a new section was cut from the lymph nodes and immunostained with a pool of antibodies against different types of cytokeratins. Micrometastases were detected in 5 patients (27.5% of the series) and 11 lymph nodes (1.51% of all removed lymph nodes).
Results:
Mortality due to cancer progression occurred in 3 patients from the pN0 group (14.2%) and 1 patient from the pN1 group (12.5%).
Conclusions:
There was no suggestion from the data that the presence of micrometastases carries an ominous prognosis in terms of survival.
