Lymph node harvest in colon and rectal cancer: Current considerations

Table 5 Survival in patients with negative lymph nodes after pre-operative chemoradiotherapy

Lymph nodesretrieved	No. of patients	Overall survival		Disease-free survival
		%	P	%	P
< 4	22	95		76
> 4	176	81	0.42	70	0.47
< 5	31	85		67
> 5	167	82	0.71	72	0.73
< 6	45	85		66
> 6	153	82	0.89	73	0.56
< 7	58	84		64
> 7	140	82	0.68	75	0.37
< 8	79	83		66
> 8	119	83	0.53	75	0.38
< 9	88	84		69
> 9	110	81	0.88	73	0.62
< 10	101	86		72
> 10	97	79	0.58	70	0.65
< 11	109	87		74
> 11	89	77	0.27	68	0.43
< 12	117	87		74
> 12	81	76	0.36	68	0.36
< 13	129	87		74
> 13	69	73	0.25	65	0.26

Showed no significant difference in 5-year overall survival and disease-free survival when increasing lymph nodes were harvested (Rullier et al[7]).