Pathomorphological features of metastatic lymph nodes as predictors of postoperative prognosis in pancreatic cancer

Abstract

Abstract To investigate the pathological features of metastatic lymph nodes (LN) in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) and to determine factors with prognostic implications. Metastatic LN status is a proven significant factor for predicting postoperative prognosis in pancreatic cancer patients. However, the effective prognostic criteria regarding metastatic LNs for such disease remain unknown. We retrospectively reviewed 98 patients with R0/1 resection for PDAC. All metastatic LNs were evaluated for the pathomorphological features of metastasis and analyzed in terms of postoperative outcomes. Various morphological patterns of metastasis were assessed in 440 positive LNs and then classified into 4 groups: common type, direct type (continuously invaded by the main tumor), scatter type (multiple tumor clusters among the normal LN tissues), and isolated tumor cell (ITC). The pathological stage was defined as stage IIA in 10% and IIB in 90% patients. Common-type metastasis was noted in 55% positive LNs of 75% node-positive patients; direct type in 36% LNs of 69% patients; scatter type in 5% LNs of 14% patients; and ITCs in 5% LNs of 18% patients. Significant difference was noted only in recurrence-free survival (RFS) but not in overall survival (OS) in the common-type; only in OS but not in RFS for the scatter type; and neither in RFS nor OS for both direct type and ITC. Multivariate analysis revealed that only LN ratio and curability were independent predictive factors of poor. The tumor distribution patterns in metastatic LNs are the postoperative prognostic factors in pancreatic cancer.