Lymph Node Harvest as a Measure of Quality and Effect on Overall Survival in Esophageal Cancer: A National Cancer Database Assessment.

Surgical therapy for esophageal cancer is the cornerstone of treatment, and the highest quality operation should lead to the highest cure rate. Evaluated lymph node (ELN) count is one quality measure that has been championed. The objective of this study was to explore ELN in esophagectomy, examine predictors of harvesting ≥12 nodes, and determine whether higher ELN improves overall survival (OS). ELN was examined in patients with resected esophageal cancer using the National Cancer Database from 2004 to 2013. In this study, 41,746 patients met the inclusion criteria. Fifty-two per cent of patients had 12 or more nodes harvested. Academic programs were most likely to harvest ≥12 nodes (58% of cases) compared with other programs (43-56% of cases). Seventy per cent of cases with ≥12 nodes harvested were performed at high-volume centers. Preoperative radiation or preoperative chemoradiation led to lower ELN (46% and 48%)