Unnecessity of lymph node regression evaluation for predicting gastric adenocarcinoma outcome after neoadjuvant chemotherapy

Table 5 Comparison of progression-free survival among groups created based on regression change and residual tumor in lymph nodes

Groups based on regression change in LNs	Kaplan-Meier analysis		Univariate Cox proportional hazards analysis
	5-year PFS rate, %	P value1	HR	95% CI	P value
A	64.8	< 0.01	0.293	0.126-0.684	0.005
B	60.7		0.423	0.189-0.947	0.036
C	27.4		1.215	0.751-1.965	0.427
D	34.1		1

¹Groups A + B vs Groups C + D. A: True negative lymph nodes (LNs) with no evidence of a preoperative therapy effect; B: No residual metastasis but presence of regression change in LNs; C: Residual metastasis with regression change in LNs; D: Metastasis with minimal or no regression change in LNs; PFS: Progression-free survival; LNs: Lymph nodes; HR: Hazard ratio.