. 2012 Nov 15;7(11):e49424. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0049424

Table 1. Clinical pathological data for gastric cancer patients with different numbers of harvested lymph nodes.

Clinical pathological data		Fewer than 15 harvested lymph nodes (n = 346 cases)		Harvested lymph nodes (15–29) (n = 601 cases)			Greater than 30 harvested lymph nodes (n = 154 cases)
		Cases	%	Cases		%	Cases		%	P value
Age (Years)	Median	61		57			58			0.316
	Range	28–83		18–82			22–76
Sex	Male	245	70.8	401	66.7		106	68.8
	Female	101	29.2	200	33.3		48	31.2		0.424
Tumour location	Gastric cardia	211	61.0	232	38.6		42	27.3
	Middle	29	8.4	115	19.1		31	20.1
	Antrum	84	24.3	234	38.9		75	48.7
	Total stomach	2	0.6	7	1.2		4	2.6
	Remnant stomach^*	20	5.8	13	2.2		2	1.3		<0.001
Surgery	Proximal gastrectomy	218	63.0	219	36.4		42	27.3
	Distal gastrectomy	93	26.9	293	48.8		85	55.2
	Total gastrectomy	35	10.1	89	14.8		27	17.5		<0.001
Tumour size	<3 cm	52	15.0	101	16.8		14	9.1
	≥3 cm	294	85.0	500	83.2		140	90.9		0.059
Borrmann type	I	12	3.8	18	3.4		2	1.3
	II	184	57.5	286	53.4		60	39.5
	III	107	33.4	210	39.2		77	50.7
	IV	17	5.3	22	4.1		13	8.6		0.002
Histological grade	High-differentiation	4	1.2	6	1.0		0	0
	Median-differentiation	111	32.1	147	24.5		23	14.9
	Low-differentiation	164	47.4	330	54.9		102	66.2
	Poor-differentiation^**	67	19.4	118	19.6		29	18.8		0.001
T staging^***	T1	26	7.5	65	10.8		2	1.3
	T2	16	4.6	45	7.5		4	2.6
	T3	9	2.6	32	5.3		0	0.0
	T4a	233	67.3	348	57.9		133	86.4
	T4b	62	17.9	111	18.5		15	9.7		<0.001
N staging^***	N0	133	38.4	185	30.8		33	21.4
	N1	79	22.8	119	19.8		21	13.6
	N2	94	27.2	87	14.5		43	27.9
	N3a	40	11.6	156	26.0		37	24.0
	N3b	0	0.0	54	9.0		20	13.0		<0.001
Adjuvant Chemotherapy	Yes	254	73.4	442	73.5		121	78.6
	No	92	26.6	159	26.5		33	21.4		0.410

These 35 remnant stomach patients all had a more than 5 years history of the gastrectomy because of the gastric ulcer.

^**

Poorly-differentiated cells: signet ring cell carcinoma, mucinous adenocarcinoma, undifferentiated carcinoma, etc.

^***

The T and N stagings for this group of patients are defined according to the AJCC’s 7^th TNM staging system for gastric cancer.