Table 4 Risk factors for lymph node metastasis in mucosal and submucosal gastric cancer

Age, years

56.4 ± 11.2

49.8 ± 11.6

< 0.001

58.7 ± 10.2

55.7 ± 10.8

0.005

Sex, n (%)

< 0.001

0.001

 Male

301 (95.9)

13 (4.1)

282 (79.7)

72 (20.3)

 Female

163 (84.0)

31 (16.0)

114 (66.7)

57 (33.3)

Location, n (%)

0.25

0.226

 Upper

36 (97.3)

1 (2.7)

57 (83.8)

11 (16.2)

 Middle

92 (88.5)

12 (11.5)

74 (84.0)

26 (26.0)

 Lower

336 (91.6)

31 (8.4)

265 (74.2)

92 (25.8)

Tumor size, cm

1.9 ± 1.1

2.6 ± 1.4

< 0.001

2.2 ± 1.1

2.5 ± 1.2

0.007

Retrieved LN

24.3 ± 8.1

26.3 ± 9.0

0.126

23.3 ± 7.6

24.7 ± 9.5

0.085

Lymphovascular invasion, n (%)

< 0.001

< 0.001

 Negative

456 (92.5)

37 (7.5)

359 (81.8)

80 (18.2)

 Positive

8 (53.3)

7 (46.7)

37 (43.0)

49 (57.0)

Perineural invasion, n (%)

NA

< 0.001

 Negative

464 (91.3)

44 (8.7)

382 (77.5)

111 (22.5)

 Positive

0 (0.0)

0 (0.0)

14 (43.8)

18 (56.2)

Differentiation, n (%)

< 0.001

 D-type

214 (98.6)

3 (1.4)

< 0.001

183 (84.3)

34 (15.7)

 UD-type

250 (85.9)

41 (14.1)

213 (69.2)

95 (30.8)

Lauren classification^a, n (%)

< 0.001

< 0.001

 Intestinal

207 (97.1)

6 (2.9)

220 (84.0)

42 (16.0)

 Diffuse

139 (85.7)

23 (14.3)

79 (64.8)

43 (35.2)

 Mixed

68 (88.3)

9 (11.7)

59 (63.4)

34 (36.6)