A comparative study on two different pathological methods to retrieve lymph nodes following gastrectomy

Background: The number of lymph nodes harvested during gastrectomy depends on the extension of lymphadenectomy and the method of lymph node retrieval. Aim: The objective of this study was to evaluate two methods of lymph node retrieval in specimens of gastric cancer. Methods: The number of lymph nodes was compared using two different techniques. The technique used in the first group was manual dissection following formalin fixation, and the techniques used in the second group was fat-clearing by acetone. Results: Both groups were comparable for demographic and pathological variables. The average number of harvested nodes was 19.3 ± 10 for the manual group as compared to 26.1 ± 14 in the acetone group (P = 0.003). The differences in the average number of positive nodes did not reach statistical significance (4.6 compared to 6.9 nodes). Conclusion: The acetone clearing technique enables the evaluation of a larger number of nodes. An increase, but statistically non significant, number of positive nodes was noted in the acetone group.