Cox ML, et al. – Researchers here aimed at determining the minimum number of lymph nodes (LN) associated with improved survival in patients who underwent NRT for stage II–III rectal cancer. They recognized that a minimum yield of 12 remained essential for a survival benefit in rectal cancer regardless of receiving neoadjuvant radiation therapy.

Methods

• Researchers stratified adults with clinical stage II and III rectal adenocarcinoma in the National Cancer Data Base by NRT.
• They used multivariable Cox regression modeling with restricted cubic splines to determine the minimum number of LNs associated with improved survival.

Results

• 76% of 38,363 patients received NRT.
• After adjustment, researchers realized improved survival in association with a LNY≥12 among patients receiving NRT (HR 0.79, p < 0.0001) and those without NRT (HR 0.88, p = 0.04).
• Among patients receiving NRT, LNY≥12 seemed independently associated with factors including younger age, private insurance, low comorbidity score, a recent year of diagnosis, higher T stage and grade, APR resection, and academic institution.