Analysis of Predictive Factors for Lymph Node Metastasis in Submucosal Invasive Colorectal Carcinoma

Purpose: Submucosal invasive colorectal carcinoma (SICC) exhibits lymph node metastasis in about 10% of patients. Therefore, endoscopic resection is insufficient for cases of SICC at risk of lymph node metastasis, and surgical resection accompanied with lymph node dissection is necessary. However, because additional intestinal resection is unnecessary for cases without lymph node metastasis, more rigid criteria are required in order to decrease the incidence of unnecessary further intestinal resection. We retrospectively identified predictive factors for lymph node metastasis in submucosal invasive colorectal carcinoma. Methods: One hundred and two patients who underwent intestinal resection as the first treatment or additional intestinal resection after endoscopic resection at our department between 1999 and 2012 were enrolled in the present study. Clinicopathological factors were analyzed to determine predictive factors related to lymph node metastasis. Results: The multivariate analysis revealing only depth of submucosal invasion (≤2700 μm) was found to be a significant, independent predictive factor of lymph node metastasis (P = 0.04, Odds ratio: 4.18, 95% CI: 1.06 16.40). Conclusion: It is considered that the refinement of the criteria in the present study will be very useful, especially in the patients for whom careful judgment is required when considering additional intestinal resection.