Background Although lymph node metastasis is a poor prognostic factor in patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), our understanding of lymph node size in association with PDAC is limited. Increased nodal size in preoperative imaging has been used to detect node metastasis. We evaluated whether lymph node size can be used as a surrogate preoperative marker of lymph node metastasis.
Methods We assessed nodal size and compared it to the nodal metastatic status of 200 patients with surgically resected PDAC. The size of all lymph nodes and metastatic nodal foci were measured along the long and short axis, and the relationships between nodal size and metastatic status were compared at six cutoff points.
Results A total of 4,525 lymph nodes were examined, 9.1% of which were metastatic. The mean size of the metastatic nodes (long axis, 6.9±5.0 mm; short axis, 4.3±3.1 mm) was significantly larger than that of the non-metastatic nodes (long axis, 5.0±4.0 mm; short axis, 3.0±2.0 mm; all p<.001). Using a 10 mm cutoff, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, overall accuracy, and area under curve was 24.8%, 88.0%, 17.1%, 82.3%, and 0.60 for the long axis and 7.0%, 99.0%, 40.3%, 90.6%, and 0.61 for the short axis, respectively.
Conclusions The metastatic nodes are larger than the non-metastatic nodes in PDAC patients. However, the difference in nodal size was too small to be identified with preoperative imaging. The performance of preoperative radiologic imaging to predict lymph nodal metastasis was not good. Therefore, nodal size cannot be used a surrogate preoperative marker of lymph node metastasis.
Citations
Citations to this article as recorded by
Long‐term outcomes of neoadjuvant gemcitabine, nab‐paclitaxel, and S1 (GAS) in borderline resectable pancreatic cancer with arterial contact: Results from a phase II trial Kenichiro Uemura, Naru Kondo, Takeshi Sudo, Tatsuaki Sumiyoshi, Ryuta Shintakuya, Kenjiro Okada, Kenta Baba, Takumi Harada, Yoshiaki Murakami, Shinya Takahashi Journal of Hepato-Biliary-Pancreatic Sciences.2024; 31(5): 351. CrossRef
Comparison of MRI and CT-based radiomics for preoperative prediction of lymph node metastasis in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma Piaoe Zeng, Chao Qu, Jianfang Liu, Jingjing Cui, Xiaoming Liu, Dianrong Xiu, Huishu Yuan Acta Radiologica.2023; 64(7): 2221. CrossRef
Prevalence of Adenopathy at Chest Computed Tomography After Vaccination for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Georgeann McGuinness, Jeffrey B. Alpert, Geraldine Brusca-Augello, Lea Azour, Jane P. Ko, Farah Tamizuddin, Elliott K. Gozansky, William H. Moore Journal of Computer Assisted Tomography.2023; 47(1): 50. CrossRef
Predictive role of radiomics features extracted from preoperative cross-sectional imaging of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma in detecting lymph node metastasis: a systemic review and meta-analysis Mohammad Mirza-Aghazadeh-Attari, Seyedeh Panid Madani, Haneyeh Shahbazian, Golnoosh Ansari, Alireza Mohseni, Ali Borhani, Shadi Afyouni, Ihab R. Kamel Abdominal Radiology.2023; 48(8): 2570. CrossRef
Regional lymph node metastasis detected on preoperative CT and/or FDG-PET may predict early recurrence of pancreatic adenocarcinoma after curative resection Ja Kyung Yoon, Mi-Suk Park, Seung-Seob Kim, Kyunghwa Han, Hee Seung Lee, Seungmin Bang, Ho Kyoung Hwang, Sang Hyun Hwang, Mijin Yun, Myeong-Jin Kim Scientific Reports.2022;[Epub] CrossRef
Role of CA 19.9 in the Management of Resectable Pancreatic Cancer: State of the Art and Future Perspectives Alessandro Coppola, Vincenzo La Vaccara, Tommaso Farolfi, Michele Fiore, Roberto Cammarata, Sara Ramella, Roberto Coppola, Damiano Caputo Biomedicines.2022; 10(9): 2091. CrossRef
Evaluation of the 8th Edition AJCC Staging System for the Clinical Staging of Pancreatic Cancer Huapyong Kang, Seung-seob Kim, Min Je Sung, Jung Hyun Jo, Hee Seung Lee, Moon Jae Chung, Jeong Youp Park, Seung Woo Park, Si Young Song, Mi-Suk Park, Seungmin Bang Cancers.2022; 14(19): 4672. CrossRef
Does direct invasion of peripancreatic lymph nodes impact survival in patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma? A retrospective dual-center study Daisuke Hashimoto, Sohei Satoi, Mitsuaki Ishida, Kenji Nakagawa, Masaya Kotsuka, Tadataka Takagi, Hironori Ryota, Taichi Terai, Tatsuma Sakaguchi, Minako Nagai, So Yamaki, Takahiro Akahori, Tomohisa Yamamoto, Mitsugu Sekimoto, Masayuki Sho Pancreatology.2021; 21(5): 884. CrossRef
CA19.9 Serum Level Predicts Lymph-Nodes Status in Resectable Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma: A Retrospective Single-Center Analysis Alessandro Coppola, Vincenzo La Vaccara, Michele Fiore, Tommaso Farolfi, Sara Ramella, Silvia Angeletti, Roberto Coppola, Damiano Caputo Frontiers in Oncology.2021;[Epub] CrossRef