ABSTRACT
Background: In adenocarcinoma stomach, lymph node involvement is a significant predictor of survival, and a decisive factor in planning management. Size has always been an important criterion while considering the metastatic status of the node, in its radiological evaluation or otherwise. However, to what extent the size of a node can be considered as a reliable criterion for its metastatic potential remains a question.Methods: The present study is based on retrieving lymph nodes per operatively from patients of carcinoma stomach, measuring each node, evaluating its metastatic status and comparing the results to find a correlation between these two parameters.Results: The present study, examined a total of 187 nodes from 30 gastrectomy specimens. Among them, metastasis was found in 59 nodes (31.55%). Among these metastatic nodes, 34 (57.62%) were actually less than 5mm in size. Among the total sizes of all the lymph nodes examined, the mean±SD (standard deviation) of the metastasis positive nodes were found to be 6.42±3.86 mm, while that of the non-metastatic nodes were found to be 5.51±1.99 mm. However, it was also observed that larger nodes (>1 cm), tend to have a high chance of being malignant (62.5%).Conclusions: The above study shows though large nodes tend to be malignant, ignoring small nodes can lead to gross under staging or incomplete clearance while treating patients of adenocarcinoma stomach. Smaller nodes constitute a significant proportion of malignant nodes and must be evaluated. Size is not a reliable criterion of metastasis in lymph nodes of carcinoma stomach.
ABSTRACT
Objective:To study the direction of cervical node extracapsular spread(ECS)of oral squamous cell carcinoma(OSCC). Methods:57 cases of OSCC were treated by combined radical operation.The relationship between ECS and T stage,tumor thick-ness,differentiation degree of OSCC,lymph node size and the ECS direction in each lymph node level were statistically analysed. Results:ECS was found in 30 of the 57 cases,and in 78 of the 174 metastasis positive lymph nodes.29 ECS nodes in levelⅠ,the frequency of the shallow side was 26,the deep side 13(P=0.000 3).But the difference in other levels was not statistically signifi-cant(P>0.05).It was not statistically significant between the incidence of ECS and T stage;it was statistically significant between the incidence of ECS and tumor thickness(P<0.05),tumor differentiation degree(P<0.05)and the lymph node size(P<0.01). Conclusion:ECS of OSCC on the shallow side is more than that in the deep side of lymph nodes in levelⅠ.ECS is positively corre-lated with the tumor thickness of OSCC,metastasied lymph node size;negatively related to the differentiation degree of OSCC.