Efficacy of the No. 10 lymphadenectomy with spleen preservation on patients with gastric cancer and/or esophagogastric junction adenocarcinoma who underwent total gastrectomy: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Surgery with total gastrectomy and D2 lymph node dissection (LND) has been recommended as the standard treatment for patients with advanced upper and middle gastric carcinoma and/or Siewert type II/III adenocarcinoma of the esophagogastric junction (AEG). However, whether the No. 10 lymph node (No. 10 LN, also known as splenic hilar LN) should be dissected in total gastrectomy remains controversial. We aimed to evaluate whether the No. 10 LND with spleen preservation has survival benefit for patients with gastric cancer and/or AEG who underwent the total gastrectomy. METHODS: The PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library, ClinicalTrials.gov and American Society of Clinical Oncology.org (ASCO.org) were electronically searched to identify eligible studies. The primary outcome was the survival rate, and secondary outcomes included the disease-free survival (DFS) rate and side effects. The Review Manager 5.3.5 software was used for the meta-analysis. The odds ratio (OR) and mean difference with 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated. The statistical heterogeneity was assessed using chi-square (χ(2)) and I(2) tests. RESULTS: Eight studies enrolling a total of 4,131 patients were eligible for our review. The meta-analysis results demonstrated that the No. 10 LND group was significantly better than the non-No. 10 LND group in terms of the 3- (OR =0.71, 95% CI: 0.62–0.81, P<0.00001) and the 5-year (OR =0.66, 95% CI: 0.58–0.75, P<0.00001) survival rates but not in the 1-year survival rate (OR =0.91, 95% CI: 0.75–1.11, P=0.36). The DFS rates in the No. 10 LND group were significantly increased after 1 (OR =0.76, 95% CI: 0.61–0.93, P=0.008), 3 (OR =0.69, 95% CI: 0.60–0.81, P<0.00001), and 5 (OR =0.66, 95% CI: 0.56–0.76, P<0.00001) years compared with those in the non-No. 10 LND group. DISCUSSION: Evidence shows that the No. 10 LND with spleen preservation can improve the survival and the DFS rates for patients with gastric cancer and/or Siewert type II/III AEG who underwent the total gastrectomy. High-quality prospective trials are expected.