New metastatic lymph node classification for early gastric cancer should differ from those for advanced gastric adenocarcinoma: Results based on the SEER database.

Aim: To establish an appropriate N classification system for early gastric cancer (EGC).

Methods: Data from 10714 patients who underwent radical gastrectomy between 1988 and 2011 were retrieved from the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Result database. The overall survival (OS) based on the eighth edition and new tumor lymph node metastasis (TNM) staging systems were compared, and the analysis was repeated in an external validation set from the Fujian Medical University Union Hospital database.

Results: There were no significant differences in OS between N1 and N2 cancers or between N3a and N3b cancers in cases of EGC. The X-tile program identified that the new staging system for EGC consisted of T1N0, T1N1' [1-6 metastatic lymph nodes (LNs)], and T1N2' ( ≥ 7 metastatic LNs). Compared with the eighth edition of the TNM staging system, the OS of patients in T1N1' stage was similar to that of patients with stage IIA disease, whereas the OS of patients in T1N2' stage was similar to that of patients with stage IIB disease. The new TNM staging system exhibited a slightly lower Akaike Information Criterion value and higher and c-statistic compared with the eighth edition of the TNM classification system. Similar results were found in the external validation dataset from the external validation set.

Conclusion: We have developed an optional new TNM staging system with a better predictive ability that can be used to accurately predict the 5-year OS of patients with EGC.