Lymph node involvement is the most important prognostic factor for @entity1 who have undergone radical surgery for @entity14 . An accurate examination of the surgical specimens is mandatory for the correct assessment of the lymph node status of the @entity5 . The risk of understaging is particularly high for @entity1 with @entity5 classified as Dukes B (TNM stage II). The aim of this study was to determine if a specified minimum number of lymph nodes examined per surgical specimen could have any effect on the prognosis of @entity1 who had undergone radical surgery for Dukes B @entity14 . Between 1988 and 1995 a total of 140 @entity1 underwent radical resection of Dukes B @entity14 by the same surgeon (C.C.). The relation between clinicopathologic variables and survival was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method. The Cox proportional hazard regression model was used to identify the variables that can independently influence survival. A median of 12 lymph nodes (range 3-38) was examined per @entity5 specimen. The 5-year survival rate of Dukes B @entity1 who had had eight or fewer lymph nodes examined after surgery was 54.9%, whereas the survival rate for those who had had nine or more lymph nodes examined was 79.9% (p < 0.001). Cox regression analysis identified the number of lymph nodes as the only independent prognostic factor (p = 0.01). Seventy @entity1 with one to four metastatic lymph nodes (Dukes C @entity1 ) who had been operated on during the same period were included in the survival analysis for comparison. The 5-year survival rate of the Dukes B @entity1 with eight or fewer lymph nodes examined was similar to that of the 70 Dukes C @entity1 (54.9% and 51.8%, respectively). Examination of eight or fewer lymph nodes in Dukes B colorectal @entity1 may be considered a high risk factor for missing positive lymph nodes in the surgical specimens. Our results suggest that harvesting and examining a minimum of nine lymph nodes per surgical specimen may be sufficient for reliable staging of lymph node-negative @entity5 .

Lymph node recovery from XXXX specimens: recommendation for a minimum number of lymph nodes to be examined.

@entity1 :: ('9606', 'Species') :: ['patients'] @entity5 :: ('MESH:D009369', 'Disease') :: ['tumor', 'tumors'] @entity14 :: ('MESH:D015179', 'Disease') :: ['colorectal carcinoma', 'colorectal cancer']
@entity14 :: (MESH:D015179,Disease) :: ['colorectal tumor']
