Background: To identify factors affecting the harvest of lymph nodes (LNs) and to investigate the association\nbetween examining a minimum of 12 LNs and clinical outcomes in stage I-III colorectal cancer (CRC) patients.\nMethods: The clinicopathologic features and the number of examined LNs for 1167 stage I-III CRC patients were\nanalyzed to identify factors affecting the number of LNs harvested and the correlations between clinical outcomes\nand high harvests (�12 LNs) and low harvests (<12 LNs).\nResults: A multivariate analysis showed that age (P = 0.007), tumor size (P = 0.030), and higher T stage (P = 0.001)\nwere independent factors affecting the examinations of LNs in colon cancer and that tumor size (P = 0.015) was the\nonly independent factor in rectal cancer. Patients with low harvests had poorer overall survival with stage II and\nstage III CRC (stage II: P < 0.0001; III: P = 0.001) and poorer disease-free survival for stages I-III (stage I: P = 0.023; II:\nP < 0.0001; III: P = 0.001).\nConclusions: The factors influencing nodal harvest are multifactorial, and an adequate number of examined LNs\n(�12) is associated with a survival benefit. Removal of at least 12 LNs will determine the lymph node status reliably.
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