ABSTRACT

Adequate lymph node evaluation is required for proper staging of colorectal cancer, and the number of lymph nodes examined is associated with survival. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the factors affecting the number of lymph nodes retrieved from specimens of patients operated for colorectal cancer. Medical records of 320 consecutive patients with colorectal cancer were evaluated retrospectively whom had curative resection between 2002 and 2007. Variables such as age, gender, tumor localization, depth of tumor invasion, number of lymph nodes retrieved, specimen length, stage and grade of disease, type of surgery, primary/recurrence disease’ presence of preoperative chemo radiotherapy (CRT), surgeon, staff surgeon, pathologist, and staff pathologist were recorded and the results were evaluated statistically. Mean number of lymph nodes retrieved was 14.98 (0 to 129) and mean metastatic lymph node number was 2.37(0-25). Tumor localization, staging, primary/recurrence disease, length of specimen, type of operation, pathologist (resident pathologist), staff pathologist, staff surgeon, presence of CRT, affected statistically significiant in terms of lymph nodes harvested (p≤0.05). The hypothesis that disease recurrence occurred due to inaccurate staging. Maximal attention should be paid while doing oncologic surgery and should be paid to the total number of lymph nodes retrieved.