Clinical Edge

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Predicting Survival in Gastric Cancer

Which classification system is most accurate?

When evaluating the prognosis for patients with gastric cancer, the ratio between negative and positive lymph nodes (RNP) stage is the optimal variable to use, according to a study of 1,563 patients.

Researchers used clinicopathologic data to analyze RNP and the tumor RNP metastasis (TRNPM) classification system, and found both were relative factors in overall survival.

TRNPM was found to be similar to both tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) and positive dissected lymph node (TRPDM) classifications, but a case-controlled match analysis showed TRNPM to be the most intensive indicator of overall survival.

Citation: Deng J, Zhang R, Wu L, et al. Superiority of the ratio between negative and positive lymph nodes for predicting the prognosis for patients with gastric cancer. Ann Surg Oncol. 2015;22(4):1258-1266. doi: 10.1245/s10434-014-4121-8.