Impact of lymph node micrometastasis in hilar bile duct carcinoma patients

Table 1 Clinicopathological factors and VEGF-C expression

		VEGF-C expression
		Positive (n = 16)	Negative (n = 18)	P Value
Age		64.7 ± 11.6	64.1 ± 10.8	0.870
Gender ( M / F )		10 / 6	11 / 17	0.999
pT classification1	pT1	1	4	0.56
	pT2	8	11
	pT3	7	3
Histopathological Grading1	G1	10	15	0.225
	G2	6	2
	G3	0	1
Lymphatic vessel invasion	(presence)	14 (87.5 %)	13 (72.2 %)	0.405
Venous invasion	(presence)	10 (62.5 %)	4 (22.2 %)	0.035
Perineural invasion	(presence)	14 (87.5 %)	10 (55.6 %)	0.063
Lymph nodes metastasis	Metastasis (-)	6	13	0.042
	Metastasis (+)	10	5
	(including micrometastasis)

¹According to the TNM staging system. pT classification: pT1: Tumor confined the bile duct; pT2: Tumor invades beyond the wall of the bile duct; pT3: Tumor invades the liver, gallbladder, pancreas, and/or unilateral tributaries of the portal vein (right or left) or hepatic artery (right or left); pT4: Tumor invades any of follwing: main portalvein or its tributaries bilatellary, common hepatic artery, or other adjacent structures, e.g., colon, stomach, duodenum, abdominal wall. Histopathological Grading: G1: Well differentiated; G2: Moderately differentiated; G3: Poorly differentiated.

Table 2 Univariate analysis of survival

Variable		5-yr survival (%)	P Value
Age	< 60 vs≥ 60	40.0 vs 44.9	0.912
Gender	male vs female	42.3 vs 45.5	0.872
Operative procedure	hepatectomy vs bile duct resection	42.2 vs 60.0	0.430
Histopathologic Grading1	G2, G3 vs G1	37.5 vs 46.0	0.393
Lymphatic vessel invasion	present vs absent	37.4 vs 75.0	0.076
Venous invasion	present vs absent	36.4 vs 49.7	0.185
Perineural invasion	present vs absent	36.3 vs 68.6	0.064
Microscopic resection margin2	em1 vs em0	31.7 vs 83.3	0.040
VEGF-C expression	positive vs negative	23.3 vs 70.5	0.036
Lymph node metastasis (Including micrometastasis)	positive vs negative	8.5 vs 72.5	0.0004
Lymph node metastasis (except micrometastasis)	positive vs negative	0.0 vs 60.2	0.0017

¹ According to the TNM staging system. Histopathological Grading: G1 Well differentiated, G2 Moderately differentiated, G3 Poorly differentiated.

² According to the Japanese Society of Biliary Surgery. General Rules for Surgical and Pathological Studies on Cancer of the Biliary Tract. em0: no tumor invades within 5 mm from resected margin; em1: tumor invades within 5mm from resected margin.