Table 4.
Prevalence of lymph node metastases per lymph node station.
| Lymph Node Station | Squamous Cell Carcinoma | Adenocarcinoma | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Upper Thoracic Esophagus | Middle Thoracic Esophagus | Lower Thoracic Esophagus | Gastroesophageal Junction | |||||||||||||
| Cervical region | ||||||||||||||||
| Right supraclavicular lymph nodes | 9% | 34 | / | 381 | 10% | 266 | / | 2684 | 13% | 100 | / | 748 | NR | |||
| Left supraclavicular lymph nodes | 5% | 14 | / | 299 | 5% | 67 | / | 1418 | 3% | 6 | / | 203 | NR | |||
| Right cervical paraesophageal lymph nodes | 34% | 103 | / | 299 | 24% | 345 | / | 1418 | 10% | 20 | / | 203 | NR | |||
| Left cervical paraesophageal lymph nodes | 22% | 65 | / | 299 | 11% | 152 | / | 1418 | 4% | 8 | / | 203 | NR | |||
| Right deep cervical lymph nodes | 2% | 5 | / | 289 | <1% | 4 | / | 1381 | 0% | 0 | / | 180 | NR | |||
| Left deep cervical lymph nodes | 2% | 5 | / | 289 | 1% | 8 | / | 1381 | 0% | 0 | / | 180 | NR | |||
| Peripharyngeal lymph nodes | 1% | 2 | / | 289 | <1% | 1 | / | 1381 | 0% | 0 | / | 180 | NR | |||
| Upper mediastinal region | ||||||||||||||||
| Upper thoracic paraesophageal lymph nodes | 10% | 40 | / | 388 | 6% | 163 | / | 2811 | 3% | 7 | / | 214 | NR | |||
| Right pretracheal lymph nodes | 12% | 43 | / | 371 | 6% | 81 | / | 1381 | 2% | 3 | / | 180 | NR | |||
| Left pretracheal lymph nodes | 9% | 28 | / | 299 | 7% | 101 | / | 1418 | 2% | 4 | / | 203 | NR | |||
| Right recurrent nerve lymph nodes | 60% | 6 | / | 10 | 23% | 15 | / | 66 | 15% | 8 | / | 52 | NR | |||
| Left recurrent nerve lymph nodes | 11% | 32 | / | 289 | 7% | 102 | / | 1410 | 3% | 7 | / | 209 | NR | |||
| Tracheobronchial lymph nodes | 12% | 10 | / | 82 | 12% | 17 | / | 145 | 6% | 3 | / | 49 | NR | |||
| Middle mediastinal region | ||||||||||||||||
| Subcarinal lymph nodes | 8% | 32 | / | 398 | 18% | 517 | / | 2913 | 14% | 121 | / | 836 | 25% | 1 | / | 4 |
| Middle thoracic paraesophageal lymph nodes | 5% | 20 | / | 388 | 23% | 595 | / | 2542 | 21% | 170 | / | 804 | 2% | 1 | / | 45 |
| Right main bronchus lymph nodes | <1% | 1 | / | 289 | 2% | 24 | / | 1410 | 2% | 4 | / | 209 | 0% | 0 | / | 10 |
| Left main bronchus lymph nodes | 1% | 2 | / | 289 | 3% | 37 | / | 1410 | 2% | 5 | / | 209 | 6% | 2 | / | 31 |
| Lower mediastinal region | ||||||||||||||||
| Lower thoracic paraesophageal lymph nodes | 3% | 12 | / | 388 | 8% | 221 | / | 2851 | 23% | 184 | / | 809 | 10% | 10 | / | 96 |
| Supradiaphragmatic lymph nodes | 0% | 0 | / | 306 | <1% | 3 | / | 1504 | 5% | 39 | / | 778 | 0% | 0 | / | 5 |
| Posterior mediastinal lymph nodes | 3% | 10 | / | 316 | 7% | 102 | / | 1545 | 5% | 14 | / | 259 | 0% | 0 | / | 17 |
| Abdominal region | ||||||||||||||||
| Right paracardial lymph nodes | 1% | 2 | / | 199 | 3% | 48 | / | 1447 | 12% | 27 | / | 232 | 26% | 33 | / | 128 |
| Left paracardial lymph nodes | 3% | 10 | / | 299 | 7% | 201 | / | 2684 | 13% | 97 | / | 748 | 37% | 48 | / | 131 |
| Lesser curvature lymph nodes | 3% | 9 | / | 299 | 10% | 273 | / | 2713 | 11% | 89 | / | 777 | 29% | 37 | / | 127 |
| Lymph nodes along the greater curvature | 0% | 0 | / | 289 | <1% | 1 | / | 1381 | 0% | 0 | / | 180 | 12% | 5 | / | 41 |
| Lymph nodes along the left gastric artery | 4% | 11 | / | 299 | 16% | 238 | / | 1528 | 28% | 76 | / | 269 | 48% | 29 | / | 60 |
| Celiac lymph nodes | NR | 2% | 1 | / | 56 | 3% | 1 | / | 33 | 14% | 4 | / | 29 | |||
| Lymph nodes along the common hepatic artery | <1% | 1 | / | 289 | 3% | 40 | / | 1483 | 5% | 37 | / | 774 | 14% | 5 | / | 37 |
| Splenic artery lymph nodes | NR | 2% | 1 | / | 59 | 0% | 0 | / | 31 | 26% | 11 | / | 43 | |||
| Infradiaphragmatic lymph nodes | NR | NR | NR | NR | ||||||||||||
| Subaortic lymph nodes | NR | 10% | 2 | / | 21 | 0% | 0 | / | 6 | NR | ||||||
| Para-aortic lymph nodes | NR | 10% | 1 | / | 10 | 0% | 0 | / | 3 | NR | ||||||
NR = not reported. Data presented as percentage of patients with lymph node metastases with number of patients with (number of patients with metastatic lymph nodes/number of patients with lymph node dissection of this station). Only studies that presented data per lymph node station were included in this table.