A STUDY ON THE NUMBER OF METASTATIC LYMPH NODES AND PROGNOSIS OF PATIENTS WITH ESOPHAGEAL CANCER

One handred and twenty six patients with esophageal cancer underwent esophagectomy with more than R2 lymph node dissection at the Nara medical universty hospital, were studied on the effects on prognoses of the n-number and number of metastatic lymph nodes, and a multivariate analysis including other prognostic factors was made. Concerning the n-number, a statistically significant difference was noted in survival rate between n2 (+) and n3 (+). As to the number of metastatic lymph nodes, the patients were classified into four groups, i.e. none (group a), one to three (group B), four to seven (group C) and more than eight positive lymph nodes (group D). There were significant differences in the survival rate between group A and group B, and group B and group C. Furthermore, limiting the cases of n1 (+) or n2 (+), group C obtained a significantly longer survival time than group D. It means that the patients with many positive lymph nodes have poor prognoses, even though these metastases are confined to relatively near the original tumors. In a multivariate analysis of seven factors including age, sex, macroscopical type, location, depth of cancer invasion, the n-number, and number of metastatic lymph nodes, the last factor has turned out to be the most connected with the prognosis. It is concluded that the number of metastatic lymph nodes is the most important prognostic factor in patients with esophageal cancer.