Table 4.

Meta-analysis of VM and the clinical and pathological features of patients with GC.

Clinical and pathological features	Number of studies	Number of patients	Pooled OR [95% CI]				Heterogeneity
			Fixed	P value	Random	P value	I 2 (%)	P value
III/IV clinical stage	6 [13, 18–20, 22, 24]	789	3.35 [2.31, 4.86]	<0.00001	3.12 [1.52, 6.42]	<0.0001	65	0.01
Lymph node metastasis	7 [13, 18–20, 22–24]	910	2.82 [2.04, 3.92]	<0.00001	2.84 [1.95, 4.14]	<0.00001	20	0.28
Poor differentiation	7 [13, 18–20, 22–24]	910	3.64 [2.53, 5.24]	<0.00001	3.92 [2.33, 6.59]	<0.00001	35	0.16
Blood metastasis	3 [19, 22, 24]	331	3.79 [2.14, 6.71]	<0.00001	4.34 [1.57, 11.96]	0.005	54	0.11
T3/4 invasion	2 [13, 22]	335	2.95 [1.63, 5.35]	0.0003	3.06 [1.29, 7.27]	0.01	17	0.27

VM, vasculogenic mimicry; GC, gastric cancer; OR, odds ratio; CI, confidence interval.