[Effect of extent of lymph node dissection on prognosis of esophageal cancer]

The lymph node metastasis of the esophageal cancer are located in three main regions such as neck (H), thoracic cavity (T) and abdominal cavity (B). We studied on the relation between the extent of lymph node dissection and prognosis, and that between the lymph node metastasis and prognosis in each region (H.T.B). The long-term survival among the cases with adequate dissection, especially with the adequate dissection in the thoracic region, was better than that among the cases without adequate dissection. Furthermore, adequately dissected cases got better survival compared to the cases without adequate dissection with post-operative prophylactic irradiation. However, in the prognosis of the esophageal carcinoma, hematogenous metastasis have to be taken into consideration as well as lymph node metastasis. Therefore, in order to improve the prognosis of esophageal cancer, it is indispensable to treat the multidisciplinary therapy with immunochemotherapy as well as complete lymph node dissection.