Analytic lymph node number establishes staging accuracy by occult tumor burden in colorectal cancer.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
7-1-2012
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Recurrence in lymph node-negative (pN0) colorectal cancer suggests the presence of undetected occult metastases. Occult tumor burden in nodes estimated by GUCY2C RT-qPCR predicts risk of disease recurrence. This study explored the impact of the number of nodes analyzed by RT-qPCR (analytic) on the prognostic utility of occult tumor burden.
METHODS: Lymph nodes (range: 2-159) from 282 prospectively enrolled pN0 colorectal cancer patients, followed for a median of 24 months (range: 2-63), were analyzed by GUCY2C RT-qPCR. Prognostic risk categorization defined using occult tumor burden was the primary outcome measure. Association of prognostic variables and risk category were defined by multivariable polytomous and semi-parametric polytomous logistic regression.
RESULTS: Occult tumor burden stratified this pN0 cohort into categories of low (60%; recurrence rate (RR) = 2.3% [95% CI 0.1-4.5%]), intermediate (31%; RR = 33.3% [23.7-44.1%]), and high (9%; RR = 68.0% [46.5-85.1%], P < 0.001) risk of recurrence. Beyond race and T stage, the number of analytic nodes was an independent marker of risk category (P < 0.001). When >12 nodes were analyzed, occult tumor burden almost completely resolved prognostic risk classification of pN0 patients.
CONCLUSIONS: The prognostic utility of occult tumor burden assessed by GUCY2C RT-qPCR is dependent on the number of analytic lymph nodes.
Recommended Citation
Hyslop, Terry; Weinberg, David S.; Schulz, Stephanie; Barkun, Alan; and Waldman, Scott A., "Analytic lymph node number establishes staging accuracy by occult tumor burden in colorectal cancer." (2012). Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics Faculty Papers. Paper 79.
https://jdc.jefferson.edu/petfp/79
PubMed ID
22252429
Comments
This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Hyslop, T., Weinberg, D. S., Schulz, S., Barkun, A., & Waldman, S. A. (2012). Analytic lymph node number establishes staging accuracy by occult tumor burden in colorectal cancer. Journal of Surgical Oncology, 106(1), 24-30, which has been published in final form at DOI: 10.1002/jso.23051. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.