Effect of number and ratio of positive lymph nodes in hypopharyngeal cancer

Abstract

The positive lymph node ratio is complementary to the current N classification system.

Prognostic value of lymph node ratio in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

“…The 28 studies included are listed in Table . The results are categorized per subsite of the head and neck when possible.…”

“…The results are categorized per subsite of the head and neck when possible. Nine studies were included on cancer of the oral cavity, 9 on cancer of multiple sites of the head and neck, 4 on cancer of the hypopharynx, 2 on cancer of the larynx, 1 on cancer of the oral cavity and larynx, 1 on cancer of the oropharynx, 1 on cancer of the tongue, and 1 on cancer of an unknown primary tumor . As analysis of LNR is not meaningful in cases of pN0, as it is zero, or in patients with a pN3 neck classification, as it often implies an inseparable conglomerate of metastatically involved lymph nodes, pN0 and pN3 cases were excluded from the LNR analysis.…”

“…It should be noted that, as this study involves patients pretreated before neck dissection, the results of this study may not be comparable to others. Hua et al studied the relationship between cervical lymph node metastasis, LNR in particular, and prognosis in 81 patients with hypopharyngeal SCC undergoing radical primary tumor resection and neck dissection. Twenty of the 24 patients with N1 disease with a LNR of <0.10 had a better prognosis.…”

Prognostic value of lymph node density in high‐grade salivary gland cancers

“…The LND represents the ratio of the number of metastasis-positive nodes to the total count of excised lymph nodes, expressed as percentage, regardless of whether patients had undergone unilateral or bilateral neck dissection [7,8,[10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]. To determine a cutoff value of LND, values were dichotomized according to a previously reported method by Mandrekar et al for survival analysis using SAS (SAS Institute, Cary, NC) [25,26].…”

“…Recent studies indicate that lymph node density (LND) or ratio (LNR), the ratio of positive nodes to the total number of nodes removed, may be a more effective marker for stratifying the risk of disease recurrence and survival than the existing staging system in colorectal [7], gastric [8], esophageal [9], breast [10], or bladder [11] cancers, oral cavity squamous cell carcinomas [12][13][14][15][16], laryngeal or hypopharyngeal cancers [17][18][19], and squamous cell carcinomas of head and neck [20][21][22].However, the prognostic value of LND has not been studied in detail in salivary gland cancers. The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of LND as an independent prognostic factor in high-grade salivary gland cancers.…”