The features of mediastinal lymph nodes metastasis in lung cancer

Objective To study the features and clinical significance of lymph nodes metastasis to mediastium in lung cancer.Methods 353 patients with lung cancer underwent operation plus extensive dissection of same side mediastinal nodes.The frequency of lymph nodes metastasis was examined pathologically.Results 2380 groups of lymph nodes were removed.There were 6.74 groups on the average in each case.Metastatic rate of N2 nodes was 16.2%.There was significant difference in lymph node metastasis among T1,T2 and T3 patients(P0.01).N2 metastatic rate for squamous carcinoma and adenocarcinoma was 30.1% and 44.1% respectively.64.2% of N2 nodes in squanmou carcinoma localized to one single group.46.2% of N2 nodes in adenocarcinoma spread to more than 3 groups.15.1% of N2-positive cancer in upper lobes metastasized to lower mediastinum,while 53.1% of N2-positive cancer in lower lobes spread to upper mediastinum.Sloitary metastatic nodes accounted for 53.7% of N2 nodes.Conclusion Multiple,solitary and transregional metastases are the characteristic of lymph nodes metastasis in lung cancer.