Standardizing the classification of gastric cancer patients with limited and adequate number of retrieved lymph nodes: an externally validated approach using real-world data.

"Declarations Ethics approval and consent to participateThe study protocol adhered to the regulations of the Declaration of Helsinki (as revised in Edinburgh 2000) and was approved by the Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center institutional review board (B2022-161-01). The institutional review board of the other participation institutions approved consent waivers because of the anonymous and purely observational nature of this study. Consent for publicationNot applicable. Competing interestsThe authors declare that they have no competing interests. Competing interests The authors declare that they have no competing interests."

"Funding This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81802451), the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2017M622879), the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (2114050002182, 2018A030313827 and 2021A1515011327), and the Young Teacher Training Program of Sun Yat-sen University (19ykpy172)."