Fat clearance and conventional fixation identified ypN0 rectal cancers following intermediate neoadjuvant radiotherapy have similar long-term outcomes

Figure 1 The effect of lymph nodes revealing after fat clearance. Small lymph nodes appeared as chalk white foci against a yellow and translucent adipose background. SRA: Superior rectal artery; LN: Lymph node.

Figure 2 Small lymph nodes could be retrieved after fat clearance. The length of the sampling cassette is 30 mm.

Figure 3 Kaplan–Meier curves. A: The Kaplan–Meier curve of local recurrence-free survival (LRFS): the estimated 5-year LRFS rates were 95.7% and 94.6% in fat clearance (FC) and conventional fixation (CF) groups, respectively (P = 0.819); B: The Kaplan–Meier curve of cancer-specific survival (CSS): the estimated 5-year CSS rates were 92.0% and 87.2% in FC and CF groups, respectively (P = 0.482).