Why do patients with gastric or pancreatic cancer live longer when they are treated at cancer centers or high-volume hospitals than patients treated at low-volume or community hospitals?

The use of sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) during breast cancer surgery increased substantially from 1998 through 2005, according to an article published online March 25 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

The number of lymph nodes that contain evidence of cancer is the best predictor of the effectiveness of adding chemotherapy and radiation to a treatment plan prior to surgery in individuals with oesophageal cancer, according to a study published last month in the Annals of Surgery.

An analysis of 17 studies from nine countries has found that the more lymph nodes that are removed and examined during surgical treatment of colon cancer, the better the outcome appears to be for patients.

The number of lymph nodes removed and examined for tumor cells appears to be associated with the likelihood of survival after surgery in colon cancer patients, according to a study in the March 21 Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Health care providers should consider the number of lymph nodes that were removed and evaluated when examining the quality of care that colon cancer patients receive, according to the paper's authors.