Background/aims: Despite the increased frequency of early gastric cancer, little is known about the clinicopathological features of early gastric cancers complicated by lymph node metastasis. This study was designed to determine whether the number of involved lymph nodes is associated with prognosis in patients with early gastric cancer.
Methodology: Fifty one patients with node-positive early gastric cancer were reviewed retrospectively from hospital records. The patients were divided into two groups according to the number of positive nodes: a) 40 patients with 1-4 positive nodes, b) 11 patients with 5 or more positive nodes.
Results: The patients with 5 or more positive nodes showed poorer prognosis than patients with less than 5 positive nodes.
Conclusions: Early gastric cancer patients with 5 or more positive nodes show a poorer prognosis than early gastric cancer patients with less than 5 positive nodes. Since surgery alone cannot completely cure patients with early gastric cancer complicated by 5 or more positive nodes, intensive postoperative chemo-immunotherapy should be administered to these patients.