Table 1.
Characteristics of the included studies
| Study | Year | Design | Patients (n) | LNR cut-off points(%) | NPN n (range) | TNE n (range) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pawlik et al.24 | 2007 | Prospective | 905 | 0, 20, 40 | – | 17 (6–28) |
| House et al.16 | 2007 | Prospective | 696 | 0, 20, 40 | 4 ± 3 | 17 ± 9.5 |
| Riediger et al.25 | 2009 | Retrospective | 182 | 0, 20, 30 | 1 (0–22) | 16 (2–47) |
| Massucco et al.22 | 2009 | Prospective | 77 | 10 | 4 (1–29) | 29 (10–54) |
| Showalter et al.28 | 2010 | RCT | 445 | 15, 33 | 1 (0–18) | 9–11 (1–56) |
| Bhatti et al.14 | 2010 | Retrospective | 84 | 20, 30 | – | 9 (1–26) |
| Murakami et al.23 | 2010 | Retrospective | 119 | 0, 10, 20 | 2 (0–40) | 28 (2–75) |
| La Torre et al.18 | 2011 | Retrospective | 101 | 0, 20, 40 | – | 19 (3–26) |
| Sanjay et al.27 | 2012 | Prospective | 51 | 20 | – | – |
| Robinson et al.26 | 2012 | Retrospective | 134 | 15 | – | – |
| Ausborn et al.13 | 2013 | Retrospective | 106 | 0.095 (0.0–0.26) median | – | – |
| John et al.17 | 2013 | Retrospective | 70 | 14 | 2 | 14 |
| Yamamoto et al.30 | 2014 | Retrospective | 56 | 20 | 2 | 25 |
| Strobel et al.29 | 2014 | Prospective | 811 | 0, 20, 40 | 3 (1–7) | 24 (18–32) |
| La Torre et al.19 | 2014 | Retrospective | 143 | 0, 20, 30 | ≥ 1 | 15 |
| Liu et al.20 | 2014 | Retrospective | 167 | 20, 40 | 2 (1–27) | 10 (0–44) |
| Malleo et al.21 | 2015 | Retrospective | 255 | 0, 20, 40 | 4.9 ± 4.7 | 30.8 ± 14 |
| Zhan et al.31 | 2015 | Retrospective | 83 | 20 | – | 8.2 ± 6.1 |
| Fischer et al.15 | 2016 | Retrospective | 398 | 19 | 2 (1–25) | – |
LNR, lymph node ratio; NPN, number of positive nodes; RCT, randomised controlled trial; TNE, total nodes examined