Table 1
Criteria for diagnosing LPLN metastasis in rectal cancer patients treated with nCRT

Study	Year	Patients	Inclusion	Diagnostic method	Criteria for diagnosing positive lateral lymph node	Pathological metastasis among LPLND patients (%)
Watanabe et al. [25]	2002	115 (78 nCRT)	T3/4 low rectal cancer (nCRT vs. no nCRT)	MRI	No definite criteria; surgeon dependent	-
Kusters et al. [23]	2017	703 (379 nCRT)	<7 cm from AV	MRI	No definite criteria; surgeon dependent	-
Kim et al. [20]	2008	366	T3/4, ≤8 cm from AV	MRI	SA >5 mm	-
Kim et al. [15]	2016	580	T3/4, ≤8 cm from AV	MRI	SA >5 mm
Nagawa et al. [26]	2001	51	T3/4 low rectal cancer	MRI
Akiyoshi et al. [27]	2014	127	T3/4 low rectal cancer	MRI	Persistent post-nCRT as >7 mm	-
Ogura et al. [6]	2019	741	T3/4 low rectal cancer	MRI	SA ≥7 mm (pre-nCRT), ≥4 mm (post-nCRT)	24.6%
Lim et al. [13]	2013	67	T3/4 or N+, ≤10 cm from AV and suspicious mLPLN	MRI	≥5 mm in the largest SA, or a spiculated or indistinct border, or a mottled heterogenic pattern	32/82 excised LNs (40%)
Kim et al. [28]	2020	798	≤15 cm from AV	MRI	SA ≥7 mm (pre-nCRT), ≥4 mm (post-nCRT)	33.3%

LPLN, lateral pelvic lymph node; nCRT, neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy; LPLND, LPLN dissection; AV, anal verge; SA, short-axis diameter; mLPLN, metastatic LPLN; LN, lymph node; -, not applicable.