Metastatic lymph nodes and prognosis assessed by the number of retrieved lymph nodes in gastric cancer

Figure 1 Flow chart of Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database screening process based on exclusion criteria. GC: Gastric cancer; SEER: Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results.

Figure 2 Number of lymph nodes examined for each stage subgroup in the training cohort. A: pT1; B: pT2; C: pT3; D: pT4. LNs: Lymph nodes.

Figure 3 Number of lymph nodes examined for each stage subgroup in the validation cohort. A: pT1; B: pT2; C: pT3; D: pT4. LNs: Lymph nodes.

Figure 4 The association between the number of examined lymph nodes and the number of metastatic lymph nodes locally weighted smoothing in the Chinese training cohort. A: pT1; B: pT2; C: pT3; D: pT4. The shaded area is the 95% confidence interval. LNs: Lymph nodes.

Figure 5 Association between the number of examined lymph nodes and the hazard ratios in the Chinese training cohort. A: pT1; B: pT2; C: pT3; D: pT4. The blue line represents the estimated hazard ratios, and the shaded area is the 95% confidence interval. LNs: Lymph nodes; HRs: Hazard ratios.

Figure 6 Estimation of the cutoff value of retrieved lymph nodes using X-tile software and overall survival curves of pT1-pT4 patients stratified by the estimated cutoff value in the Chinese training cohort. A and B: pT1; C and D: pT2; E and F: pT3; G and H: pT4. LNs: Lymph nodes.

Figure 7 The overall survival curves of pT1-pT4 patients in the validation cohort stratified according to the estimated cutoff value. A: pT1; B: pT2; C: pT3; D: pT4.

Figure 8 Scatter plot and linear regression analysis of the number of metastatic lymph nodes and the number of positive lymph nodes in the overall patient population. A: pT1; B: pT2; C: pT3; D: pT4. LNs: Lymph nodes.