Table 2 Comparison of lymph node metastases (mLN) and non-pathologic lymph nodes (npLN) or npLN hot-spots, respectively. Number (n) and percent (%) of lymph nodes completely (> 95% volume), partly (5–95%) not (< 5%) overlapping npLN (or npLN hot spots) in the different lymph node levels
LN level | mLN n = | mLN versus npLN | mLN versus npLN “hot-spots” | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Overlapping | Partly overlapping | Not overlapping | Overlapping | Partly overlapping | Not overlapping | ||||||||
Level I | 186 | 39 | 21.0% | 133 | 71.5% | 14 | 7.5% | 5 | 2.7% | 126 | 67.7% | 55 | 29.6% |
Level II | 35 | 1 | 2.9% | 30 | 85.7% | 4 | 11.4% | 0 | 0.0% | 16 | 45.7% | 19 | 54.3% |
Level III | 36 | 0 | 0.0% | 21 | 58.3% | 15 | 41.7% | 0 | 0.0% | 2 | 5.6% | 34 | 94.4% |
Level IV | 31 | 1 | 3.2% | 19 | 61.3% | 11 | 35.5% | 0 | 0.0% | 5 | 16.1% | 26 | 83.9% |
IM | 27 | 0 | 0.0% | 6 | 22.2% | 21 | 77.8% | 0 | 0.0% | 0 | 0.0% | 27 | 100.0% |
Other | 11 | 0 | 0.0% | 3 | 27.3% | 8 | 72.7% | 0 | 0.0% | 0 | 0.0% | 11 | 100.0% |
Total | 326 | 41 | 12.6% | 212 | 65.0% | 73 | 22.4% | 5 | 1.5% | 149 | 45.7% | 172 | 52.8% |