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.