Table 1 Baseline characteristics of 132 patients with ESCC ^a

Age (mean ± SD, yr)

73.6 ± 2.6

Gender

  Female

11 (8.3)

  Male

121 (91.7)

Tumor size (mean ± SD, cm)

4.6 ± 1.7

Tumor location

  Upper

6 (4.5)

  Middle

55 (41.7)

  Lower

71 (53.8)

Histologic grade

  Well

17 (12.9)

 Moderately

81 (61.4)

  Poorly

34 (25.7)

Tumor grade

  T1

19 (14.4)

  T2

16 (12.1)

  T3

89 (67.4)

  T4

8 (6.1)

N stage

  N0

58 (43.9)

  N1

42 (31.8)

  N2

18 (13.7)

  N3

14 (10.6)

TLN (mean ± SD, n)

22.7 ± 9.7

NMLN (mean ± SD, n)

2.2 ± 3.7

MLNR

  MLNR0 (0)

58 (43.9)

  MLNR1 (>0, ≤0.1)

40 (30.3)

  MLNR2 (>0.1, ≤0.3)

19 (14.4)

  MLNR3 (>0.3)

15 (11.4)