Impact of lymph node micrometastasis on gastric carcinoma prognosis: A meta-analysis

Table 2 Lymph node micrometastasis characteristics of the included studies

Ref.	Depth of tumor invasion	Method	Antibody	Definition of micrometastasis	LNs (n)	AverageLNs (n)
Cai et al[18], 2000	T1b	IHC	CK (CAM5.2)	pN0 by HE staining	1945	25.0
Fukagawa et al[19], 2001	T2-T3	IHC	CK (AE1/AE3)	pN0 by HE staining	4484	41.9
Choi et al[20], 2002	T1b	IHC	CK (AE1/AE3)	pN0 by HE staining	2272	25.8
Lee et al[21], 2002	T1-T4	IHC	CK (35βH11)	pN0 by HE staining	3625	23.7
Yasuda et al[22], 2002	T2-T3	IHC	CK (CAM5.2)	pN0 by HE staining	2039	31.9
Morgagni et al[23], 2003	T1	IHC	CK(MNF 116)	pN0 by HE staining	5400	18.0
Yonemura et al[24], 2007	T1-T4	IHC	CK (AE1/AE3)	≤ 0.2 mm	12012	39.0
Kim et al[25], 2008	T1-T3	IHC	CK (AE1/AE3)	pN0 by HE staining	4990	27.1
Ishii et al[26], 2008	T1b-T2	IHC	CK (O.N.352)	pN0 by HE staining	1028	29.4
Kim et al[27], 2009	T1	IHC	CK (AE1/AE3)	≤ 2 mm	3526	39.2
Wang et al[28], 2011	T1-T3	IHC	CK (AE1/AE3)	> 0.2 mm and ≤ 2 mm	4202	22.0
Jeuck et al[29], 2015	T1-T4	IHC	CK (KL1)	pN0 by HE staining	2018	21.2

IHC: Inmmunohistochemistry; CK: Cytokeratin; pN₀: Node-negative; HE: Hematoxyline-eosin; T1: Tumor invades lamina propria, muscularis mucosae or submucosa; T1a: Tumor invades lamina propria or muscularis mucosae; T1b: Tumor invades submucosa; T2: Tumor invades muscularis propria; T3: Tumor penetrates subserosal connective tissue without invasion of visceral peritoneum or adjacent structures; T4a: Tumor invades serosa (visceral peritoneum); T4b: Tumor invades adjacent structures.