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Updated: Jun 25, 2025
Author Spotlight: Advancing Early Detection and Treatment of Gastrointestinal Tumors
Published on: February 16, 2024
Revolutionizing T3-4N0-2M0 gastric cancer staging with an innovative pathologic N classification system
Kailai Yin1, Xuanhong Jin2, Yang Pan3
1Postgraduate Training Base Alliance of Wenzhou Medical University (Zhejiang Cancer Hospital), Hangzhou, China; Department of Gastric surgery, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, Hangzhou Institute of Medicine (HIM), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hangzhou, China; Zhejiang Provincial Research Center for Upper Gastrointestinal Tract Cancer, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, Hangzhou, China; Zhejiang Key Lab of Prevention, Diagnosis and Therapy of Upper Gastrointestinal Cancer, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, Hangzhou, China.
Background:
The current pathologic N (pN) classification exhibits limitations in the prognostic stratification of patients with pT3-4N0-2M0 gastric cancer (GC). Therefore, this study aimed to develop and validate a new lymph nodal staging method based on the number of examined lymph nodes (ELNs) and lymph node ratio (LNR).
Methods:
Data from 7883 patients with pT3-4N0-2M0 GC were collected from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database and Zhejiang Cancer Provincial Hospital. Optimal cutoff values for ELNs and LNR were determined using X-tile software. Kaplan-Meier methods, Log-rank tests, and Cox regression analyses were employed in this study. Patients were categorized into 3 new pN stages: new pN0 (pN0 with ELNs of >16), new pN1 (pN0 with ELNs of ≤16 or pN1-2 with LNR of ≤0.15), and new pN2 (pN1-2 with LNR of >0.15). The prognostic predictive power of both current and new pN staging was evaluated using the Akaike information criterion (AIC), Bayesian information criterion, concordance index (C-index), and receiver operating characteristic curve.
Results:
The new pN classification exhibited excellent performance in Kaplan-Meier survival analysis. After adjusting for confounding factors, the new pN staging emerged as an independent prognostic indicator in patients with GC. In the SEER cohort, the new pN staging demonstrated enhanced prognostic prediction accuracy over the American Joint Committee on Cancer pN staging (AIC: 75578.85 vs 75755.06; C-index: 0.642 vs 0.630; P < .001). Similar findings were validated in the Chinese cohort.
Conclusion:
This study developed and validated an improved pN classification for patients with pT3-4N0-2M0 GC. Surgeons should consider ELNs and LNR when assessing postoperative prognosis in patients with GC.
