Degree of Differentiation of Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma and Micrometastasis to Lymph Nodes.

ABSTRACT

Objectives: The goal of the study was to examine the relationships among micrometastasis, pathological degree of differentiation and survival in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). Design: A single-center retrospective study of patients diagnosed with thoracic esophageal SCC. Methods: Immunostaining using CK13 was carried out for all lymph nodes resected by radical esophagectomy with three-field lymphadenectomy. The relationships among micrometastasis to lymph nodes, degree of differentiation and survival were investigated. Results: The 25 patients included 14 (56.0%) well-differentiated and 11 (44.0%) moderately differentiated cases. In multivariate analysis, well-differentiated cases were not related to micrometastasis (odds ratio (OR) 1.5, confidence interval (CI) 0.2-12, p=0.7). In multivariate analysis of survival, cases in pStage III or higher were likely to have shorter survival (hazard ratio (HR) 2.8, CI 0.7-12, p=0.16), and those with micrometastasis also tended to have shorter survival (HR 2.7, CI 0.8-9, p=0.11)); however, well-differentiated cases were not significantly related to survival (HR 1.5, CI 0.4-5.5, p=0.5). Conclusion: Micrometastasis to lymph nodes may be a prognostic factor even in advanced esophageal cancer. The degree of differentiation was not related to micrometastasis or survival.