作者
Xiao Shi,Xue Kui Liu,Chang Ming An,Wen Jun Wei,Yungan Tao,Yuan Ji,Yan Zhang,Wei Han,Jin Cai Xue,Nai Si Huang,Ben Ma,Chen Ping Zhang,Xi Yang,Ke Jing Wang,Qin Jiang Liu,Yang Liu,Yu Wang,Bo Lei,Peng Yu,Jia Hu,Zhong Lü,Wei Hu,You Xin Tian,Qing Ji
摘要
Background We aimed to explore whether the anatomic extent of lymph node metastases (AE-LNM) could independently predict prognosis of node-positive major salivary gland carcinoma (MaSGC). Methods A total of 376 pathologically node-positive MaSGC patients were identified from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results database and constituted the training cohort. Using the X-Tile program, these patients were divided into three groups based on AE-LNM degrees. Discrimination of overall survival (OS) and disease-specific survival (DSS) was evaluated and compared with the 8th American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) pN classification. The results were externally validated by 220 patients in a Chinese multicenter cohort (Validation cohort). Results Using the training cohort, AE-LNM was divided into Extent 1 (spread to parotid LNs or level I), Extent 2 (spread to level II-IV) and Extent 3 (spread to level V or bilateral LNs or rare LNs). Regarding both OS and DSS, the AE-LNM model revealed clear separation of survival curves, while the pN classification failed to discriminate the prognosis of pN1 and pN2 patients. When we incorporated both the AE-LNM model and AJCC pN classification into the same multivariate Cox analyses, AE-LNM was still an independent prognostic factor, while the AJCC pN classification lost its significance. These results were externally validated by the validation cohort. Conclusion AE-LNM is an independent nodal prognosticator for node-positive MaSGC and may have improved discriminative ability over the current AJCC pN classification. Integration of anatomic extent of LNM into the current AJCC N classification could be considered.