Prognostic significance of pathologic nodal status in patients with resected pancreatic cancer Journal Article


Authors: House, M. G.; Gonen, M.; Jarnagin, W. R.; D'Angelica, M.; DeMatteo, R. P.; Fong, Y.; Brennan, M. F.; Allen, P. J.
Article Title: Prognostic significance of pathologic nodal status in patients with resected pancreatic cancer
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the significance of pathologic nodal assessment and extent of nodal metastases on patient outcome in patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma. A prospectively maintained pancreatic cancer database was reviewed, and 696 consecutive patients were identified who underwent resection for pancreatic adenocarcinoma between 1995 and 2005. Overall survival was compared to lymph node (LN) status, absolute number of pathologically assessed LN, and LN ratio expressed as the number of positive LN to the total LN assessed. Of the 696 patients, 598 (86%) had pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD), and 96 (14%) had distal pancreatectomy (DP). For all patients, median follow-up was 13 months (range, 0-122 months), and estimated 5-year survival was 16%. A total of 243 (35%) patients were LN-negative (N0) and had a median survival of 27 months. When assessed as a continuous variable, the number of pathologically assessed LN did not correlate with survival for N0 patients undergoing either PD or DP. The median survival for the 453 patients with node-positive (N1) disease was 16 months. When analyzed as a continuous variable, the absolute number of positive LNs was a significant predictor of survival for N1 patients with a linear relationship up to eight positive LNs. LN ratio, as a continuous variable, also predicted survival with a linear relationship up to a ratio of 0.35. A ratio of 0.18 was associated with a 19-month median survival and served as the best cutoff, p∈<∈0.01. The absolute number of positive LNs and LN ratio are strong predictors of survival for patients with node-positive pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Inadequate surgical lymphadenectomy or pathologic LN assessment understages node-negative patients. © 2007 The Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract.
Keywords: survival; adult; aged; aged, 80 and over; middle aged; survival analysis; retrospective studies; mortality; pancreatic neoplasms; lymph node metastasis; lymph nodes; lymphatic metastasis; adenocarcinoma; pancreas; pathology; retrospective study; lymph node; pancreas tumor
Journal Title: Journal of Gastrointestinal Surgery
Volume: 11
Issue: 11
ISSN: 1091-255X
Publisher: Springer  
Date Published: 2007-11-01
Start Page: 1549
End Page: 1555
Language: English
DOI: 10.1007/s11605-007-0243-7
PUBMED: 17786531
PROVIDER: scopus
DOI/URL:
Notes: --- - "Cited By (since 1996): 26" - "Export Date: 17 November 2011" - "Source: Scopus"
Altmetric
Citation Impact
BMJ Impact Analytics
MSK Authors
  1. Murray F Brennan
    1059 Brennan
  2. Ronald P DeMatteo
    637 DeMatteo
  3. Mithat Gonen
    1028 Gonen
  4. Michael Garrett House
    8 House
  5. Peter Allen
    501 Allen
  6. William R Jarnagin
    903 Jarnagin
  7. Yuman Fong
    775 Fong