The Lymph Node Metastasis Histology in Colorectal Cancer -The Clinical Implication of Tubular-Type Carcinoma in Lymph Nodes -
Abstract Cribriform carcinoma in lymph nodes (LNs) is associated with distant metastasis, recurrence, and survival in node-positive colorectal cancer (CRC) patients. However, the clinical significance of lymph node metastasis histology remains to investigate. A total of 318 consecutive CRC patients who underwent a colectomy or anterior resection between January 2011 and June 2016 were enrolled, of whom 119 (37.4 %) had LN metastasis (LNM). Based on the LNM histology, patients with LNM were categorized into four groups: the group with tubular-type in all LNs (tub), with cribriform in at least one LN (cri), with mucinous-type in all LNs (muc), and with poorly differentiated-type carcinoma in at least one LN (por). We investigated the association among these histological types with the survival of these patients. The prognosis was good in order of muc, tub, cri, and por in node-positive CRC patients. Stage II and stage III tub groups did not have significantly different over-all survival times, but not recurrence-free survival times. Multivariate analyses revealed that all tubular-type carcinoma in LNs was independent predictive factor for longer survival times, clinical complete response and possible metastasectomy Diagnosis of lymph node metastatic histology is an important factor for patient stratification in node-positive CRC.