Lymph node evaluation and survival after curative resection of colon cancer: systematic review.

Adequate lymph node evaluation for cancer involvement is important for prognosis and treatment of patients with colon cancer. The number of lymph nodes evaluated may be a measure of quality in colon cancer care and appears to be inadequate in most patients treated for colon cancer. We performed a systematic review of the evidence for the association between lymph node evaluation and oncologic outcomes in patients with colon cancer.