TY - JOUR T1 - The Lymph Node Ratio Is an Independent Prognostic Factor in Esophageal Cancer Patients Who Receive Curative Surgery JF - In Vivo JO - In Vivo SP - 2087 LP - 2093 DO - 10.21873/invivo.12012 VL - 34 IS - 4 AU - NORIO YUKAWA AU - TORU AOYAMA AU - HIROSHI TAMAGAWA AU - AYAKO TAMAGAWA AU - YOSUKE ATSUMI AU - SHINNOSUKE KAWAHARA AU - YUKIO MAEZAWA AU - KAZUKI KANO AU - MASAAKI MURAKAWA AU - KEISUKE KAZAMA AU - MASAKATSU NUMATA AU - TAKASHI OSHIMA AU - MUNETAKA MASUDA AU - YASUSHI RINO Y1 - 2020/07/01 UR - http://iv.iiarjournals.org/content/34/4/2087.abstract N2 - Background/Aim: We investigated the clinical impact of the lymph node ratio (LNR) on overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) in esophageal cancer patients who underwent curative surgery. Patients and Methods: One hundred twenty patients who underwent curative surgery for esophageal cancer between 2005 and 2017 were included in this study. The LNR was defined as the ratio of the number of metastatic lymph nodes (LNs) to the total number of harvested LNs. Results: A lymph node ratio of 10% was regarded as the optimal critical point for classification based on the overall survival rate. The 3-year and 5-year OS rates were 65.5% and 57.0%, respectively, in the LNR<10% group, and 11.8% and 0% in the LNRā‰„10% group; the difference was statistically significant (p<0.001). The 3-year and 5-year RFS rates were 52.6% and 44.6%, respectively, in the LNR<10% group, and 0% and 0% in the LNR>10% group; the difference was also statistically significant (p<0.001). When comparing the sites of first relapse, the incidence of distant lymph node metastasis in the LNR>10% group was significantly higher than that in the LNR<10% group. Conclusion: The LNR was a risk factor for both OS and RFS in patients who underwent curative surgery for esophageal cancer. ER -