Research progress of lymph node metastasis in esophageal cancer / 国际肿瘤学杂志

Lymph nodes (LN)are the main parts of the esophageal cancer metastasis,and the current status of LN is the important indicator of prognosis.LN metastasis appears in early stage of esophageal cancer.One side,LN metastasis easily appears in the regions near the tumor and some special areas.On the other side,LN metastasis has the characteristics of wide metastasis and skip metastasis.Therefore,the researches of the pattern of esophageal cancer lymph node metastasis can help to comform the scope of the esophageal cancer lymph node dissection and the target regions of radiotherapy.