Clinical lymph node staging by imaging in colorectal cancer: A flip of the coin?

2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. e15160-e15160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nelleke Pietronella Maria Brouwer ◽  
Rutger Carel Hubert Stijns ◽  
Lemmens Valery ◽  
Iris D. Nagtegaal ◽  
Regina GH Beets-Tan ◽  
...  

e15160 Background: Clinical lymph node staging by MRI and CT is important in stratification for neoadjuvant therapy in colorectal cancer. Overstaging may result in unnecessary neoadjuvant therapy, but understaging may refrain patients from adequate preoperative treatment. This study aims to provide insight in current daily practice in clinical lymph node staging in CRC in the Netherlands. Methods: All patients with primary CRC, diagnosed between 2003-2014, who underwent lymph node dissection were selected from the nationwide population-based Netherlands Cancer Registry (n=100,211). Trends in patient- and tumor-characteristics, and lymph node staging were analyzed. For the years 2011-2014, sensitivity, specificity, positive (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) were calculated for clinical lymph node staging, with histology as the gold standard. Only patients without preoperative treatment were analyzed. Since prospective studies have shown that 5x5 Gy radiotherapy (RT) followed by total mesorectal excision within 10 days does not lead to nodal downstaging, an additional analysis was performed in this group. Results: The proportion clinically positive lymph nodes increased significantly between 2003-2014; from 7% to 22% for colon cancer and from 7% to 53% for rectal cancer. The proportion histological positive lymph nodes remained fairly stable over time (±35% colon, ±33% rectum). During 2011-2014, clinical lymph node staging was available in the registry in 86% of colon cancer patients, 92% of rectal cancer patients without neoadjuvant treatment and 95% of rectal cancer patients with 5x5 Gy RT. The parameters based on data from this period are presented in table 1. Conclusions: With a sensitivity and PPV of approximately 50%, clinical lymph node staging is about as accurate as flipping a coin. This leads to overtreatment in patients with rectal cancer with neoadjuvant RT. Acceptable specificity and NPV limit the risk of undertreatment. [Table: see text]

2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Orsenigo ◽  
Giulia Gasparini ◽  
Michele Carlucci

Many colorectal resections do not meet the minimum of 12 lymph nodes (LNs) recommended by the American Joint Committee on Cancer for accurate staging of colorectal cancer. The aim of this study was to investigate factors affecting the number of the adequate nodal yield in colorectal specimens subject to routine pathological assessment. We have retrospectively analysed the data of 2319 curatively resected colorectal cancer patients in San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, between 1993 and 2017 (1259 colon cancer patients and 675 rectal cancer patients plus 385 rectal cancer patients who underwent neoadjuvant therapy). The factors influencing lymph node retrieval were subjected to uni- and multivariate analyses. Moreover, a survival analysis was carried out to verify the prognostic implications of nodal counts. The mean number of evaluated nodes was 24.08±11.4, 20.34±11.8, and 15.33±9.64 in surgically treated right-sided colon cancer, left-sided colon cancer, and rectal tumors, respectively. More than 12 lymph nodes were reported in surgical specimens in 1094 (86.9%) cases in the colon cohort and in 425 (63%) cases in the rectal cohort, and patients who underwent neoadjuvant chemoradiation were analysed separately. On univariate analysis of the colon cancer group, higher LNs counts were associated with female sex, right colon cancer, emergency surgery, pT3-T4 diseases, higher tumor size, and resected specimen length. On multivariate analysis right colon tumors, larger mean size of tumor, length of specimen, pT3-T4 disease, and female sex were found to significantly affect lymph node retrieval. Colon cancer patients with 12 or more lymph nodes removed had a significantly better long-term survival than those with 11 or fewer nodes (P=0.002, log-rank test). Rectal cancer patients with 12 or more lymph nodes removed approached but did not reach a statistically different survival (P=0.055, log-rank test). Multiple tumor and patients’ factors are associated with lymph node yield, but only the removal of at least 12 lymph nodes will reliably determine lymph node status.


2015 ◽  
Vol 33 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 736-736
Author(s):  
Matthew David Hall ◽  
Timothy E. Schultheiss ◽  
Jeffrey Y.C. Wong ◽  
Yi-Jen Chen

736 Background: Neoadjuvant chemoradiation therapy (CRT) results in fewer retrieved lymph nodes at the time of surgery for rectal cancer. The extent of optimal regional nodal dissection is based on guidelines developed before neoadjuvant CRT was commonly used. The purpose of this study is to assess the impact of the number of dissected and positive lymph nodes on overall survival (OS) for rectal cancer patients treated with neoadjuvant CRT. Methods: Treatment data were obtained by structured query on all patients with rectal adenocarcinoma (2000-2013) in the National Oncology Data Alliance, a proprietary database of merged tumor registries. Eligible patients were treated with neoadjuvant CRT followed by surgery and had complete data on the number of positive and dissected lymph nodes and dates of treatment. The relationships between number of lymph nodes examined and OS were separately analyzed in patients with 0, exactly 1, or any number of positive nodes. Results: The median number of lymph nodes examined was 11 (interquartile range 6-16). In 4,581 evaluable patients, there was a significant improvement in OS with the examination of more lymph nodes. Number of positive lymph nodes, number of lymph nodes dissected, age, gender, grade, marital status, and race were significant predictors of OS on multivariate analysis. On subset analysis, patients with 0, exactly 1, and any number of positive nodes were found to have better OS with increasing number of lymph nodes dissected up to eight. Increasing overall mortality was observed in patients with 0, 1, 2-4, 5-7, and ≥8 positive lymph nodes. The Kaplan-Meier curves showed a clear statistically significant difference in OS in patients divided into these five nodal groupings (p<0.0001). Conclusions: Patients with eight or more lymph nodes examined had the greatest improvement in OS in rectal cancer patients treated with neoadjuvant CRT. This should be considered the threshold for an adequate lymph node sampling in this population. A five-tier nodal grouping was found to best forecast prognosis based on the number of positive lymph nodes identified.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tong-Hui Xie ◽  
Peng Su ◽  
Jian-Guo Hong ◽  
Hui Zhang

Abstract Background Colorectal cancer is a very common malignant tumor worldwide. The clinical manifestations of advanced colorectal cancer include the changes in bowel habits, hematochezia, diarrhea, local abdominal pain and other symptoms. However, the colorectal cancer with an initial symptom of cervical lymph node enlargement is extremely rare. In this article, we report a case of rectal cancer presenting with cervical lymph nodes enlargement as the initial symptom. Case presentation A 57-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital for cervical lymph node enlargement which was accidentally detected during physical examination. Computed tomography scan revealed multiple enlarged lymph nodes in the neck. Cervical ultrasound showed normal thyroid gland and multiple left supraclavicular lymph nodes enlargement. The patient underwent lymph nodes biopsy and pathologic results showed metastatic adenocarcinoma. The subsequent lower gastrointestinal endoscopy revealed a mucosal bulge lesion located at rectus and biopsy revealed adenocarcinoma. The patient underwent rectal cancer resection. She is alive with no evidence of recurrence or new tumors 2 years after surgery. Conclusions Cervical lymph node metastasis is a rare metastatic way in colorectal cancer. This is the first case of rectal cancer presenting with cervical lymph nodes metastases as the initial symptom. Surgical resection combined with postoperative chemotherapy improved long-term prognosis of the patient. This rare metastatic way of rectal cancer should be paid attention for clinicians.


2020 ◽  
Vol 152 ◽  
pp. S587
Author(s):  
A. Biche ◽  
A. Choudhury ◽  
L. Wee ◽  
A. Dekker ◽  
J. Van Soest ◽  
...  

2005 ◽  
Vol 29 (9) ◽  
pp. 1172-1175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Bembenek ◽  
Ulrike Schneider ◽  
Stephan Gretschel ◽  
Joerg Fischer ◽  
Peter M. Schlag

2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ameer Hamza ◽  
Ramen Sakhi ◽  
Sidrah Khawar ◽  
Ahmed Alrajjal ◽  
Jacob Edens ◽  
...  

As with other malignancies, lymph node metastasis is an important staging element and prognostic factor in colorectal carcinomas. The number of involved lymph nodes is directly related to decreased 5-year overall survival for all pT stages according to United States Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) cancer registry database. The National Quality Forum specifies that the presence of at least 12 lymph nodes in a surgical resection is one of the key quality measures for the evaluation of colorectal cancer. Therefore, the harvesting of a minimum of twelve lymph nodes is the most widely accepted standard for evaluating colorectal cancer. Since this is an accepted quality standard, a second attempt at lymph node dissection in the gross specimen is often performed when the initial lymph node count is less than 12, incurring a delay in reporting and additional expense. However, this is an arbitrary number and not based on any hard scientific evidence. We decided to investigate whether the additional effort and expense of submitting additional lymph nodes had any effect on pathologic lymph node staging (pN). We identified a total of 99 colectomies for colorectal cancer in which the prosector subsequently submitted additional lymph nodes following initial review. The mean lymph node count increased from 8.3 ± 7.5 on initial search to 14.6 ± 8.0 following submission of additional sections. The number of cases meeting the target of 12 lymph nodes increased from 14 to 69. Examination of the additional lymph nodes resulted in pathologic upstaging (pN) of five cases. Gross reexamination and submission of additional lymph nodes may provide more accurate staging in a limited number of cases. Whether exhaustive submission of mesenteric fat or fat-clearing methods is justified will need to be further investigated.


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