Importance of lymph node dissection

Malignant tumors have the characteristics of spreading and infiltrating to the periphery without restriction, and their rapid growth can easily invade the surrounding normal tissues, and some of the cancer cells form metastases through lymphatic vessels, blood vessels or other cavities, among which lymphatic metastasis is the most common metastatic route. Therefore, whole block resection and lymphatic dissection occupy a very important position in malignant tumor surgery and are also the principles that must be followed in radical resection of cancer. In order to completely clear the lymph nodes, it is necessary to skeletonize the important preserved vessels such as axillary vein, splenic artery, hepatic artery, portal vein, etc., and completely clear the perivascular tissues including lymph nodes in the whole block. Skeletalized clearance is helpful to prevent residual cancer tissue and reduce the local recurrence rate, thus improving the prognosis. The complete removal of metastatic lymph nodes is both the focus and the difficulty of radical surgery, which reflects higher technical requirements and is completely different from general surgery, and is also difficult for many non-oncologists in China. Since the establishment of our department, we have strictly followed the surgical requirements of radical tumor treatment, and have formulated corresponding surgical specifications for common breast cancer, thyroid cancer, gastric cancer, intestinal cancer, liver cancer, pancreatic cancer, etc. We have set the scope of surgical resection and lymph node dissection and operation procedures in detail to ensure the quality of surgery and improve the prognosis. For example, the 5-year survival rate of standardized radical treatment of gastric cancer in our department is over 60%, while the overall 5-year survival rate of gastric cancer in China is only 37.7% during the same period. Standardized lymph node dissection and whole block resection is both an inevitable requirement of radical cancer surgery and a necessary commitment to patients. The following are the results of radical surgery for some tumors in our department: right breast cancer after modified radical treatment and axillary lymph node dissection, left neck lymph node dissection, stomach cancer after radical treatment and lymph node dissection around the abdominal trunk, rectal cancer after radical treatment and lymph node dissection around the inferior mesenteric vessels, liver cancer after regular and precise hepatectomy of segment VII