In the validation set, HB-CEA (HB-CEA=1, HR: 2.049, 95% CI: 1.313-3.198, p=0.002; HB-CEA=2, HR: 4.007, 95% CI: 2.335-6.877, p<0.001), nerve invasion (HR: 1.525, 95% CI: 1.013-2.295, p=0.043), pathological TNM stage (pTNM) (HR: 1.894, 95% CI: 1.225-2.928, p=0.004), and lymph node metastasis (HR: 1.949, 95% CI: 1.175-3.233, p=0.010) were associated with the prognosis of patients (Table 4). This evidence concerns the gene CEACAM5 and metastatic malignant neoplasm in the lymph nodes.