Table 2 Patient characteristics and Fisher’s exact test results for the identification of risk factors for retropharyngeal lymph node metastasis
Variables | Total cohort (Column %) | RPLN positive (Column %) | RPLN negative (Column %) | p-value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
n = 155 | n = 20 | n = 135 | ||
Smoking status | ||||
Never | 13 (8) | 2 (10) | 11 (8) | 0.877 |
Former | 79 (51) | 10 (50) | 69 (51) | |
Current | 63 (41) | 8 (40) | 55 (41) | |
Tumor site | ||||
Pyriform sinus | 110 (71) | 10 (50) | 100 (74) | 0.006 |
Postcricoid region | 17 (11) | 1 (5) | 16 (12) | |
Posterior wall | 28 (18) | 9 (45) | 19 (14) | |
T category | ||||
T1 | 17 (11) | 0 (0) | 17 (13) | 0.049 |
T2 | 70 (45) | 6 (30) | 64 (47) | |
T3 | 39 (25) | 9 (45) | 30 (22) | |
T4 | 29 (19) | 5 (25) | 24 (18) | |
Histological grade | ||||
Well | 27 (17) | 1 (5) | 26 (19) | 0.065 |
Moderate | 79 (51) | 16 (80) | 63 (47) | |
Poor | 22 (14) | 1 (5) | 21 (16) | |
Not graded | 27 (17) | 2 (10) | 25 (19) | |
Cervical LNM | ||||
No | 56 (36) | 2 (10) | 54 (40) | < 0.001 |
Ipsilateral single | 12 (8) | 0 (0) | 12 (9) | |
Ipsilateral multiple | 60 (39) | 8 (40) | 52 (39) | |
Bilateral or contralateral | 27 (17) | 10 (50) | 17 (13) | |
Largest ipsilateral LN | ||||
< 20 mm | 107 (69) | 10 (50) | 97 (72) | 0.112 |
20 to < 30 mm | 28 (18) | 6 (30) | 22 (16) | |
≥30 mm | 20 (13) | 4 (20) | 16 (12) |