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World J Gastroenterol. Apr 14, 2014; 20(14): 3967-3975
Published online Apr 14, 2014. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v20.i14.3967
Clinical significance of lymph node metastasis in gastric cancer
Jing-Yu Deng, Han Liang
Jing-Yu Deng, Han Liang, Gastric Oncology Division, Tianjin Medical University Cancer Hospital and City Key Laboratory of Tianjin Cancer Center, National Clinical Center of Cancer, Tianjin 300060, China
Author contributions: Deng JY and Liang H contributed equally to this work; Deng JY designed the research; Deng JY and Liang H wrote the paper.
Supported by Anticancer Major Projects of Tianjin Municipal Science and Technology Commission, No. 12ZCDZSY16400; National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program), No. 2010CB529301; Science Foundation of Tianjin Medical University, No. 2012KYM01
Correspondence to: Jing-Yu Deng, Associate Professor, Gastric Oncology Division, Tianjin Medical University Cancer Hospital and City Key Laboratory of Tianjin Cancer Center, National Clinical Center of Cancer, West Road, Hexi District, Tianjin 300060, China. dengery@126.com
Telephone: +86-22-23340123 Fax: +86-22-23359904
Received: October 24, 2013
Revised: January 3, 2014
Accepted: January 19, 2014
Published online: April 14, 2014
Processing time: 172 Days and 10.3 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: Many issues regarding lymph node metastasis in gastric cancer need to be addressed for improving prognostic evaluation. Theoretically, the appropriate classification of lymph node metastasis is able to improve the accurate prognosis of patients. However, it is still controversial over which classification of lymph node metastasis should be deemed as the most powerful predictor of prognosis. The optimal extent of lymph node dissection has been still debating for several decades in the world. The perfect lymphadenectomy can provide the abundant count of dissected lymph nodes for pathological examination, which is considered as the irreplaceable element for accurate evaluation of disease status. In addition, the negative node count should not be considered as a clinical variable without any significance in prognostic evaluation.