. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2015 Dec 1.

Published in final edited form as: Ann Surg Oncol. 2015 Mar 18;22(13):4392–4401. doi: 10.1245/s10434-015-4499-y

TABLE 3.

Different number (cut-off value) of positive lymph nodes deemed to be significant in the literature

Author, year	No. of	Cut-off	Comments	Risk assessment
	cases	values		determined by
Shroff et al. ⁵²	92	0, 1–3, or > 3		Disease-free and overall survival
Sakata et al.⁵³	71	0, 1–3, or ≥4	The number of positive LNs better predicts the outcome than the LN ratio
Lee et al.⁵⁴	52	≥3	In univariate analysis, the number of positive LNs, and LN ratio and LN location are significantly correlated with survival	Recurrence and survival
			In multivariate analysis, the factor of ≥3 metastatic LNs is the only independent prognostic factor
Choi et al.⁵⁵	78	0–1 or ≥ 2	LN number and presence of metastatic LNs do not affect overall survival	Recurrence and overall survival
			≥2 metastatic LNs significantly affects disease-free survival
Sommerville et al.⁵⁶	39	0, 1–3, or > 3	>3 vs. 0 metastatic LN hazard ratio is significant	Overall survival
Sierzega et al.⁵⁷	111	≥4	In univariate analysis, the presence of metastatic LNs, and their number and ratio are significantly correlated with survival	Overall survival
Sakata et al.⁵⁸	62	0, 1–3, or ≥4	The number, not the location, of metastatic LNs independently affects long-term survival	Overall survival

LNs lymph nodes