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Lymph flow and lymph node metastasis in esophageal cancer

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Abstract

This paper delineates which lymph nodes should be dissected due to the high frequency of metastasis associated with different types of primary lesions of the thoracic esophagus. In cancer involving the upper third of the esophagus (Iu), lymph flow was found to be primarily from the superior mediastinal area to the cervical area; in that involving the middle third (Im), it was broadly distributed from the superior, middle, and inferior mediastinal region to the cervical and abdominal regions; and in that involving the lower third (Ei), it tended to extend from the inferior mediastinal region to the abdominal region, with single primary metastatic nodes also being noted in this area. The significance of the “top” nodes, namely, the nodes located along the right recurrent laryngeal nerve in the upper portion of the thorax, was also investigated, and it was confirmed that the prognosis for patients with metastases to both the top nodes and other nodes was unfavorable. An immunohistochemical study on mediastinal lymph flow using the anti-Su-Ps antibody demonstrated interactions between top nodes and cervical and/or thoracic nodes.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Second Department of Surgery, Tohoku University School of Medicine, 1-1 Seiryo-machi, Aoba-ku, 980, Sendai, Japan

    Tetsuro Nishihira, Junzo Sayama, Harumasa Ueda, Koh Sugawara, Ryo Takano, Junji Sagawa, Masafumi Katayama, Ryuzaburo Shineha, Katsu Hirayama & Shozo Mori

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  1. Tetsuro Nishihira
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  2. Junzo Sayama
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  3. Harumasa Ueda
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  4. Koh Sugawara
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  5. Ryo Takano
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  6. Junji Sagawa
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  7. Masafumi Katayama
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  8. Ryuzaburo Shineha
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  9. Katsu Hirayama
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  10. Shozo Mori
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Nishihira, T., Sayama, J., Ueda, H. et al. Lymph flow and lymph node metastasis in esophageal cancer. Surg Today 25, 307–317 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00311252

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00311252

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