[Second thoughts on standardized surgery of colon cancer]

Standardization of colon cancer surgery has been one of the hottest issues for to clinicians. The establishment of complete mesocolic excision (CME) concept standardizes and defines the anatomic access of surgical procedures of colon cancer, and also provides the possibility to obtain high quality standards of pathological specimen assessment. In 2010 the Ministry of Health announced Standard of Diagnosis and Treatment of Colorectal Cancer on the legal basis. However, hot discussion was present again,due to the lack of definition of standardized operation. Through reviewing Japanese Standard of Diagnosis and Treatment of Colon Cancer (7th Edition), and the literature on CME published in English and Chinese since April 2009, the authors raise the discussion and reflection on theoretical basis that the safe bowel resection margin must be reached in colon cancer RO surgery and rationality of regional lymph node dissection.