Fig. 2

Prognostic impact of pathological lymph node metastasis and adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with rectal cancer. a Kaplan–Meier curve for overall survival (OS) in patients with rectal cancer according to the status of pathological lymph node metastasis (n = 93). OS was significantly higher in patients with lymph node negative status [ypN(−)] (n = 53) compared with those with lymph node positive status [ypN(+)] (n = 40) (p = 0.00020, log-rank test). b Kaplan–Meier curve for disease-free survival (DFS) in patients with rectal cancer according to the status of pathological lymph node metastasis (n = 93). DFS was significantly higher in patients with lymph node negative status [ypN(−)] (n = 53) compared with those with lymph node positive status [ypN(+)] (n = 40) (p = 0.00010, log-rank test). c Kaplan–Meier curve for OS in patients with rectal cancer according to adjuvant chemotherapy (n = 93). OS was not significantly different between adjuvant (+) (n = 65) and adjuvant (−) (n = 28) (p = 0.50, log-rank test). d Kaplan–Meier curve for DFS in patients with rectal cancer according to adjuvant chemotherapy (n = 93). DFS was not significantly different between adjuvant (+) (n = 65) and adjuvant (−) (n = 28) (p = 0.30, log-rank test)