Table 1 Patient demographics and clinical characteristics
| Â | Conventional method (n = 36) | Our new method (n = 8) | P value |
|---|---|---|---|
Age(years) | Â | Â | Â |
   Mean(range) | 67(57-79) | 68(56-85) | 0.787 |
Gender | Â | Â | Â |
   Male/female | 30/6 | 7/1 | 0.770 |
Location of main tumor | Â | Â | Â |
   Upper | 6 | 1 | 0.956 |
   Middle | 21 | 5 |  |
   Lower | 9 | 2 |  |
Depth of tumor invasion | Â | Â | Â |
   T1 | 7 | 1 | 0.245 |
   T2 | 10 | 2 |  |
   T3 | 19 | 5 |  |
   T4 | 0 | 0 |  |
Lymphnode metastasis | Â | Â | Â |
   N0 | 20 | 5 | 0.245 |
   N1 | 16 | 3 |  |
TNM stage | Â | Â | Â |
   0 | 0 | 0 | 0.220 |
   I | 6 | 1 |  |
   II A | 14 | 4 |  |
   II B | 10 | 2 |  |
   III | 6 | 1 |  |
   IV | 0 | 0 |  |