Can surgical technology better guide oncological resections in colon cancer?

There is little debate that the lymph node yield is an important marker of quality and prognosis in colon cancer and that procuring a minimum of 12 is an acceptable standard of care, and that decreased survival is associated with <12 nodes being obtained. (1). The value of obtaining more than 12 nodes or optimal absolute node is contentious. Recently, Del Paggio et al evaluated the association of lymph node yield with nodal positivity and cancer-specific survival after curative resection for stages II/III colon cancer, concluding that thresholds for optimal survival are associated with yields greater than 12(2). This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.