Lymph node micrometastases in patients with early gastric cancer: experience with 139 patients.

Abstract

Although lymph node metastases in patients with early gastric cancer (EGC) is an important prognostic factor, the prognostic relevance of lymph node micrometastases is still uncertain. The authors studied 1488 lymph nodes, which were histologically confirmed as pN0, dissected from 139 patients who were treated for EGC between 1976-1994. Micrometastases were defined as a single or small cluster of neoplastic cells identifiable only by immunohistochemical methods. Lymph node micrometastases was observed in 24 of the 139 patients (17%). No significant correlation was observed between micrometastases and other clinicopathological characteristics. Analysis of overall survival showed no significant difference between the micrometastases positive and negative groups. The results of our study show that the presence of lymph node micrometastases in EGC does not have an influence on patient prognosis.