Lymph Node Examination and Patterns of Nodal Metastasis Among Patients with Left- Versus Right-Sided Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma After Major Curative-Intent Resection

BACKGROUND: We sought to investigate whether the unique lateral patterns of lymphatic drainage impacted lymphadenectomy (LND), lymph node metastasis (LNM), and long-term survival of patients after curative hemi-hepatectomy for left- versus right-sided intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC).METHODS: Data on patients who underwent curative hemi-hepatectomy for left- or right-sided ICC were collected from 15 high-volume centers worldwide, as well as from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) registry. Primary outcomes included overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS).RESULTS: Among 697 patients identified from the multi-institutional database, patients who underwent hemi-hepatectomy for left-sided ICC (n = 363, 52.1%) were more likely to have an increased number of LND versus patients with right-sided ICC (n = 334, 47.9%) (median, left 5 versus right 3, p = 0.012), although the frequency (left 66.4% versus right 63.8%, p = 0.469) and station (beyond station no. 12, left 25.3% versus right 21.1%, p = 0.293) were similar. Consequently, left-sided ICC was associated with higher incidence of LNM (left 33.3% versus right 25.7%, p = 0.036), whereas the station and number of LNM were not different (both p > 0.1). There was no difference in OS (median, left 34.9 versus right 29.6 months, p = 0.130) or DFS (median, left 14.5 versus right 15.2 months, p = 0.771) among patients who underwent hemi-hepatectomy for left- versus right-sided ICC, which were also verified in the SEER dataset. LNM beyond station no. 12 was associated with even worse long-term survival versus LNM within station no. 12 among patients with either left- or right-sided ICC after curative-intent resection (all p < 0.05).CONCLUSIONS: The unique lateral patterns of lymphatic drainage were closely related to utilization of LND, as well as LNM of left- versus right-sided ICC.