Objective To investigate the effect of standardized lymph node sorting on postoperative results of gas-troesophageal junction malignant tumors.Methods The data of all patients with malignant gastroesophageal junc-tion in gastric cancer database were analyzed retrospectively.Lymph nodes were sorted according to whether sur-geons were present immediately after surgery.Patients were divided into lymph node sorting group(sorting group)and lymph node unsorting group(unsorting group).General data included gender,age,body mass index(BMI),carcinogenic antigen(CEA),postoperative albumin level,preoperative hemoglobin,etc.Perioperative and patho-logical data included operation time,intraoperative blood loss,postoperative hospital stay,tumor differentiation,distance from superior incisal margin,total number of lymph nodes,number of positive lymph nodes,etc.Kaplan-Meier curve and Log-rank test were used for survival analysis,and propensity score matching analysis adjusted for confounding factors between groups.Results A total of 386 patients were included,including 133 in lymph node sorting group and 253 in non-sorting group.The median follow-up time was 40.18 months.The total number of lymph nodes and the number of positive lymph nodes in the sorting group were(26.38±12.18)and(6.63±10.14),respectively,while the total number and the number of positive lymph nodes in the non-sorting group were(12.25±7.06)and(3.07±3.77),respectively.There were statistically significant differences in the total num-ber of lymph nodes and the number of positive lymph nodes between the sorting group and the non-sorting group(P＜0.05).There was no statistically significant difference in survival between the sorting group and the non-sorting group before matching.There were 112 and 203 patients with advanced gastric cancer in the two groups,respec-tively.The overall survival curve of patients in the sorting group was better than that in the non-sorting group,and the difference in median survival time was statistically significant(P＜0.05).The caliper value was set to 0.02,and 94 pairs of patients were preferentially matched.After matching,the total number of lymph nodes and the num-ber of positive lymph nodes in the sorting group were(24.71±12.03)and(5.70±9.95),respectively,while the total number and the number of positive lymph nodes in the non-sorting group were(13.05±7.63)and(3.37±4.32),respectively.The difference between the two groups was statistically significant(P＜0.05).The overall survival curve of patients in the sorting group was better than that in the non-sorting group,and the median survival time was statistically significant(P＜0.05).Conclusion Postoperative lymph node sorting for gastric cancer can significantly increase the number of total lymph nodes and positive lymph nodes,reduce lymph node migration,and improve postoperative survival time.