Fat clearance and conventional fixation identified ypN0 rectal cancers following intermediate neoadjuvant radiotherapy have similar long-term outcomes

Table 2 Lymph nodes retrieval, local recurrence-free survival, and cancer-specific survival of conventional fixation group versus fat clearance group

Characteristic	Fat clearance	Conventionalfixation	P value
LNs retrieved [median (range)]
All T stages	19.5 (4-57)	12 (0-44)	0.000
ypT0-2	19 (5-57)	9 (0-30)	0.000
ypT3-4	21.5 (4-55)	13 (1-44)	0.000
Lymph nodes ≥ 12
All T stages	82.3%	50.5%	0.000
ypT0-2	81.6%	34.6%	0.000
ypT3-4	83.3%	67.3%	0.068
5 yr-LRFS rate	95.7%	94.6%	0.819
5 yr-CSS rate	92.0%	87.2%	0.482

LN: Lymph node; LRFS: Local recurrence-free survival; CSS: Cancer-specific survival.