CTTN and metastatic malignant neoplasm in the lymph nodes: Although lymph node metastasis has been reported as an important clinical prognosticator (Eiband et al, 1989; Gasparotto and Maestro, 2007), cortactin expression (HR=13.14; 95% CI, 3.04–56.87; P=0.0006) correlated stronger to increased DSM than lymph node metastasis (HR=3.16; 95% CI, 1.29–7.75; P=0.012) (Table 3).