[A new lymph-node staging system for gastric cancer].

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the predictive effects of the new lymph node staging system based on the ratio of the number of metastatic lymph nodes to the total number of dissected lymph nodes comparing with N-staging of the 5th TNM (UICC, 1997).

METHODS

Lymph nodes harvested from operative specimens in 78 patients with gastric cancer were examined histologically. pN staging was carried out according to the two staging systems respectively. In our system, pN0, pN1, pN2, pN3 were defined as lymph node ratio(LNR) 0, <10%, <25% and >25%, respectively. All the patients were followed up and the data were analyzed statistically.

RESULTS

A total of 5388 lymph nodes were found with a mean of 69 per case (range 30-157). Lymph node metastases were detected in 59 patients (75.64%). The 3-year survival rates of pN0, pN1, pN2, pN3 of the new staging system were 100%, 68.42%, 7.58% and 6.78%, respectively.

CONCLUSION

The lymph node ratio is a relative variable, which reflects the degree of metastasis of lymph node, and is more predictable than the UICC 1997 5th N-staging system defined as the numbers of metastatic lymph node.