Incidence of lymph node recurrence after primary surgery for non-metastatic colon cancer: A systematic review
1Department of GI Surgery, Ghent University Hospital, Ghent, Belgium.
Background:
The extent of lymphadenectomy in colon cancer (CC) is a matter of debate. One argument of extensive surgery is that it may prevent lymph node recurrence (LNR). However, the incidence of LNR after surgery for CC is unknown. Here, we performed a systematic review of the incidence of LNR after either standard (D2) surgery or extensive resection (complete mesocolic excision, CME, D3).
Methods:
PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and CENTRAL were searched for studies reporting on patients with primary stage I-III CC who developed locoregional or distant LNR. Methodological quality was scored using the QualSyst tool. The difference in overall and lymph node (LN) recurrence rate between CME/D3 and standard/D2 resection was statistically evaluated using non-parametric tests. Registered with PROPERO as CRD42020203288.
Results:
From an initial 12.744 records, 24 studies were included, representing 13.521 CC patients. A majority of patients had right CC (64%), stage III disease (51%), and received adjuvant chemotherapy (57%). The mean number of examined nodes ranged from 14 to 30. The median overall recurrence rate was 14% in the CME/D3 group, and 19% in the standard/D2 group (P = 0.638). The median proportion of patients with any LNR was 1.7% in the CME/D3 group, and 1.2% in the standard/D2 group (P = 0.677). The median incidence of locoregional, potentially preventable LNR was 0% in the CME/D3 group and 0.4% in the standard/D2 group (P = 0.274).
Conclusions:
The incidence of locoregional, potentially preventable LNR after surgery for CC is low (<1%), and is not affected by the extent of lymphadenectomy.
