Background: The optimal surgical management of nonfunctional pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (NF-PNETs) is still controversial.Here, we evaluated the impact of lymph node status on postoperative recurrence in patients with NF-PNET and the potential of preoperative variables for predicting lymph node metastasis (LNM).Methods: In this mono-institutional retrospective cohort study conducted in 100 consecutive patients who underwent NF-PNET resection between January 2004 and December 2014, we evaluated risk factors for survival using the Kaplan-Meier method and the Cox regression model.Predictors of LNM were evaluated using the logistic regression model, and the power of predictive models was evaluated using receiver operating characteristic curve analysis.Results: Five-year disease-free survival of resected NF-PNET was 64.1％.LNM was independently associated with postoperative recurrence (hazard ratio =3.995, P =0.003).Multivariate analysis revealed tumor grade as an independent factor associated with LNM (G2 vs.G1: odds ratio [OR] =6.287, P =0.008;G3 vs.G1: OR =12.407, P =0.001).When tumor grade was excluded, radiological tumor diameter ＞2.5 cm (OR =5.430, P =0.013) and presence of symptoms (OR =3.366, P =0.039) were significantly associated with LNM.Compared to neoplasms with radiological diameter ＞2.5 cm (32.1％), tumors ≤2.5 cm had an obviously lower risk of LNM (7.7％), indicating the reliability of this parameter in predicting LNM (area under the curve, 0.693).Incidentally discovered NF-PNETs ≤2.5 cm were associated with a low-risk of LNM and excellent survival.Conclusions: LNM is significantly associated with postoperative recurrence.Radiological tumor diameter is a reliable predictor of LNM in NF-PNETs.Our results indicate that lymphadenectomy in small (≤2.5 cm) NF-PNETs is not routinely necessary.