ReviewSurgery in practice and science2023
Lymph node harvest as a predictor of survival for colon cancer: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Review in Surgery in practice and science, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Perioperative and Oncological Outcomes of Colorectal Cancer Surgery in Obese Patients: A Multicenter Retrospective Study.Annals of gastroenterological surgery · 2026Article
- Mechanobiological and microenvironmental roles of lymph nodes in cancer: implications for lymph node de-escalation.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Review
- Correlation analysis of the extent of lymph node dissection in laparoscopic radical resection of colon cancer and long-term prognosis.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background and Objectives: The number of lymph nodes found harboring metastasis can be impacted by the extent of harvest. Guidelines recommend 12 lymph nodes for adequate lymphadenectomy to predict long-term oncologic outcomes, yet different cut-offs remain unevaluated. The aim of this review was to determine cut-offs that may predict survival outcomes. Methods: Medline, Embase, and CENTRAL were systematically searched. Articles were included if they compared overall survival (OS) or disease-free survival (DFS) above and below a lymph node harvest cut-off. Studies solely examining rectal cancer or stage-IV disease were excluded. Pairwise meta-analyses using inverse variance random effects were performed. Results: From 2587 citations, 20 studies with 854,359 patients (51.9% female, mean age: 68.9) were included, with 19 studies included in quantitative synthesis. A lymph node harvest cut-off of 12 predicted improved five-year OS (7 studies; OR 1.11, 95% CI 1.08-1.14, Conclusions: A lymph node cut-off of 12 distinguishes differences in five-year oncologic outcomes. Contrarily, lymph node harvests other than 12 have not been rigorously studied and thus lack the statistical power to derive meaningful conclusions compared to the 12-lymph node cut-off. Nonetheless, it is possible that a lymph node harvest cut-offs less than 12 may be adequate in predicting long-term survival. Further prospective study evaluating cut-offs below 12 are warranted.
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