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Updated: Feb 27, 2026
An Orthotopic Resectional Mouse Model of Pancreatic Cancer
Published on: September 24, 2020
Increased pancreatic cancer survival with greater lymph node retrieval in the National Cancer Data Base
Carlo M Contreras1, Chee Paul Lin2, Robert A Oster3
1University of Alabama at Birmingham, Department of Surgery, Birmingham, AL, USA.
Background:
We evaluated the role of lymph node (LN) retrieval in pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PA) patients undergoing pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD).
Methods:
We utilized the National Cancer Data Base; Cox regression models and logistic regression models were used for statistical evaluation.
Results:
We evaluated 26,792 patients with PA who underwent PD. The mean LN retrieved in LN(-) patients was 10.8 vs 14.4 for LN(+) patients (P < 0.0001). Greater LN retrieval is an independent predictor of a negative microscopic margin and decreased length of stay. The median survival of LN(-) patients exceeded that of LN(+) patients (24.5 vs 15.1 months, P < 0.0001). Increasing LN retrieval is a significant predictor of survival in all patients, and in LN(-) patients. The relationship of increased LN retrieval and enhanced survival is a nearly linear trend.
Conclusions:
Rather than demonstrating an inflection point that defines the extent of adequate lymphadenectomy, this dataset demonstrates an incremental relationship between LN retrieval and survival.
