Prediction of lymph node metastasis in early esophageal cancer

Table 1 Predictive factors of lymph node metastasis in early esophageal cancer

Category		ESCC	EAC
Imaging	CT	The intrathoracic and abdominal nodes larger than 10 mm in the short axis, supraclavicular nodes greater than 5 mm and retrocrural nodes greater than 6 mm
	EUS	Regional lymph node metastasis: (1) Size greater than 10 mm, (2) a round shape, (3) sharply demarcated borders, and (4) hypoechoic structure
Serum markers		TK1 ≥ 3.38 pmol/L; CYFRA21-1 > 3.30 ng/mL; stathmin-1	NA
		MicroRNA-218
Postoperative pathology and immunohistochemical analysis		Depth of invasion; tumor size; histological differentiation grade; angiolymphatic invasion; neural invasion; expression of PIM-1
		Overexpression of cortactin; the protein levels of mixed-lineage leukaemia 2; the expression of stanniocalcin-1	Transcriptions of CD69, MYD88 and TLR4; low expression of olfactomedin 4

ESCC: Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma; EAC: Esophageal adenocarcinoma; CT: Computed tomography; EUS: Endoscopic ultrasonography; TK1: Thymidine kinase 1; CYFRA21-1: Cytokeratin 19 fragment antigen 21-1; NA: Not available; TLR4: Toll-like receptor 4; MYD88: Myeloid differentiation protein 88.