AIMTodeterminewhetherthenumberofexaminedlymphnodes(LNs)iscorrelatedwiththeoverallsurvivalofgallbladdercarcinoma(GBC)patients.METHODSPatientswerecollectedfromtheSurveillanceEpidemiologyandEndResultsdatabase(2004-2013)andcategorizedbythenumberofLNsintosixgroups:1LN,2LNs,3LNs,4LNs,5LNs,and≥6LNs.SurvivalcurvesforoverallsurvivalwereplottedwithaKaplan-Meieranalysis.Thelog-ranktestwasusedforunivariatecomparisons.RESULTSInacohortof893patients,themediannumberofexaminedLNswastwofortheentirecohort.Thesurvivalforthe1LNgroupwassignificantlypoorerthanthoseofthestageⅠandⅡdiseasegroupsandfortheentirecohort.BydichotomizingthenumberofLNsfrom1to6,wefoundthattheminimumnumberofLNsthatshouldbeexaminedwasfourforstageⅠ,fourorfiveforstageⅡ,andsixforstageⅢAdisease.Therefore,fortheentirecohort,thenumberofexaminedLNsshouldbeatleastsix,whichisexactlyconsistentwiththeAmericanJointCommitteeonCancercriteria.CONCLUSIONTheexaminationofhighernumbersofLNsisassociatedwithimprovedsurvivalafterresectionsurgeryforN0GBC.TheguidelinesforGBCsurgery,whichrecommendthatsixLNsbeexaminedatleast,arestatisticallyvalidandshouldbeappliedinclinicalpracticewidely.
