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. 2001 Aug;234(2):190-7.
doi: 10.1097/00000658-200108000-00008.

Prognostic determinants of patients with lateral nodal involvement by rectal cancer

H Ueno  1 , H Mochizuki, Y Hashiguchi, K Hase
Affiliations

Prognostic determinants of patients with lateral nodal involvement by rectal cancer

H Ueno et al. Ann Surg. 2001 Aug.

Abstract

Objective: To clarify the characteristics related to long-term survival in patients with lateral nodal involvement.

Summary background data: Few reports have addressed the prognostic determinants in patients with actual lateral nodal involvement, which are important in determining treatment.

Methods: Review of a prospective colorectal database at a single institution for a 10-year period (1987-1996) identified 53 patients with lateral nodal involvement.

Results: All nine patients who underwent resection of synchronous distant metastases developed recurrence and died within 3 years. Of the 44 patients without distant metastases, 25 (57%) developed locoregional recurrence, and the overall 5-year survival rate was 32%. Multivariate analysis showed that age, total number of involved nodes (mesorectal and lateral), and circumferential surgical margin involvement had independently predicted postoperative survival. Patients with three or fewer nodes involved accounted for one third of lateral-positive patients, with a 5-year survival rate of 75%, whereas the 18 patients with four or more involved nodes had a 5-year survival rate of 4%. All eight patients with circumferential margin involvement died of carcinoma, and seven developed locoregional recurrences. Involvement of other pelvic organs had no effect on prognosis, nor were adverse prognostic outcomes noted by the region of lateral involvement.

Conclusions: For patients with lateral involvement, the most important prognostic variables are distant metastases, the total number of nodes involved, circumferential margin involvement, and age. Selection of patients based on these variables may lead to the identification of a subgroup for whom lateral nodal dissection could be the first treatment choice.

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Figures

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Figure 1. The eight regions of the lateral area.
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Figure 2. Survival comparison of patients with lateral metastasis based on the distant metastases (P < .0001, log-rank test). Present: patients with distant metastases. Absent: patients without distant metastases.
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Figure 3. Survival comparison of patients without distant metastases based on the circumferential surgical margin involvement (P < .0001, log-rank test). Positive: patients with surgical margin involvement. Negative: patients without surgical margin involvement.
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Figure 4. Comparison of survival curves of patients without distant metastases based on the nodal involvement of outer lateral regions (no significance, log-rank test). Outer lateral regions: obturator node, external iliac node, and inguinal node.
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Figure 5. Survival comparison of patients without distant metastases based on the extent of lymph node involvement. Mesorectum, mesorectal nodal involvement (P = .0031, log-rank test); lateral, lateral nodal involvement (P = .0111); overall, total number of nodes involved in the mesorectum and lateral region (P < .0001).
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Figure 6. Recurrent mode with respect to the number of overall (mesorectum + lateral) nodal involvement (*P < .05, chi-square test).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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