Lymph node dissection in esophageal carcinoma: Minimally invasive esophagectomy vs open surgery

Table 3 Comparison of the number of lymph node dissections and the rate of positive lymph nodes according to pathological T stage n (%)

	Number of lymph node dissections		P value1	Rate of positive lymph nodes		P value2	χ2
	Open	MIE		Open	MIE
pTis	18.3 ± 1.5	19.8 ± 1.3	0.2150	0	0
pT1	19.3 ± 4.1	21.4 ± 3.8	0.0593	21 (5.0)	50 (5.8)	0.579	0.308
pT2	20.2 ± 3.2	22.1 ± 6.6	0.0715	98 (10.1)	190 (11.0)	0.494	0.468
pT3	20.3 ± 5.8	23.2 ± 4.1	0.1030	733 (16.3)	32 (11.4)	0.031	4.626
pT4	21.5 ± 3.6	0		130 (17.8)	0
Total	20.4 ± 3.8	21.1 ± 4.3	0.0944	982 (14.8)	272 (9.5)	< 0.001	49.222

¹The t test;

²The χ² test. The rate of positive lymph nodes (pN+) = number of metastatic lymph nodes/number of removed lymph nodes. MIE: Minimally invasive esophagectomy.