The association between lymph node resection and postoperative survival in patients with colorectal cancer

To describe the detail of lymph node dissection and its number and to study the association between that and the postoperative survival in patients with colorectal cancer.

Two hundred and sixty-five patients with colorectal cancer performed radical resection from December 2004 to December 2006 in the Department of General Surgery, Qilu Hospital of Shandong University were analyzed. The survival rate was estimated using Kaplan-Meier methodology. Log-rank test was used for significant comparison and Cox proportional hazards regression was used to multivariately assess outcome.

The survival rate of colorectal cancer patients who had 12 or more lymph nodes harvested was significantly higher than that of those who had less than 12 lymph nodes harvested (adjusted risk ratio (RR): 0.215; 95% CI: 0.102-0.456). The number of lymph nodes harvested was a significant variable that affected survival in both stage II and stage III patients. Only 24.9% of all patients had at least 12 lymph nodes harvested.

The number of lymph nodes harvested was a prognostic variable to evaluate outcome in patients with colorectal cancer. However, most patients did not receive adequate lymph node evaluation. More efforts should be done to improve quality of care in this area.