Possibly improved treatment of colorectal cancer by sentinel lymph node mapping.

Prognosis for colorectal cancer is dependent on radical surgical intervention. Chemotherapy in patients with advanced disease has improved the survival. A considerable proportion of the patients going through radical surgery will subsequently relapse. Adjuvant chemotherapy is reserved for patients with lymph node metastases, why undetected malignant lymph nodes will result in understaging and exclusion from the possible benefit of adjuvant chemotherapy. With sentinel lymph node mapping it may be possible to detect and resect more malignant lymph node and maybe even avoid extensive resections.