Caspase-3 expression in metastatic lymph nodes of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma is prognostic of survival

Table 3 Disease-specific survival analyses according to caspase-3 expression in primary esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and paired metastatic lymph nodes

Characteristic	Number of patients	Disease-specific survival (mo)		P value1
		Mean	Median
Expression in PT
Negative	34	22	21	0.033
Positive	88	39	23
Expression in PT
Low level	68	32	21	0.586
High level	54	37	19
Expression in PMLN
Negative	6	81	NR	0.0172
Positive	116	32	21
Expression in PMLN
Low level	28	48	22	0.043
High level	94	30	20

¹Kaplan-Meier method (log-rank test);

²The results were uncertain, due to few patients in the negative subgroup. PT: Primary tumors; NR: Not reached; PMLN: Paired metastatic lymph nodes.