A lower cut-off for lymph node harvest predicts for poorer overall survival after rectal surgery post neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy

Table 3 Subgroup analysis of neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (NACRT) and upfront surgery patients

Variables	Category	N	Disease-free survival		Overall survival
Variables	Category	N	Median ± SD (months)	P value	Median ± SD (months)	P value
NACRT group (N= 94)
Tumour staging	Stage 1	18	88 ± 39	0.026	88 ± 39	0.051
	Stage 2	32	73 ± 40		76 ± 39
	Stage 3	44	67 ± 37		74 ± 36
Lymph node harvest	< 12	36	61 ± 38	0.801	63 ± 41	0.436
Lymph node harvest	≥ 12	58	80 ± 40	0.801	86 ± 39	0.436
Upfront surgery group (N= 163)
Tumour staging	Stage 1	43	82 ± 38	0.001	84 ± 41	0.003
	Stage 2	29	61 ± 37		68 ± 40
	Stage 3	91	54 ± 35		60 ± 37
Lymph node harvest	< 12	17	61 ± 38	0.040	61 ± 39	0.013
Lymph node harvest	≥ 12	146	63 ± 41	0.040	68 ± 38	0.013

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