The Prognostic Significance of Lymph Node Status and Lymph Node Ratio (LNR) on Survival of Right Colon Cancer Patients: a Tertiary Center Experience

Colon cancer is a major health problem and is one of the most frequent cancers all over the world. In Egypt, the incidence of colon cancer is relatively low, but its mortality rate is high. Lymphatic spread of colon cancer is one of the most important factors affecting the prognosis of patients. Recently, the lymph node ratio (LNR) has been evaluated as a prognostic parameter for survival. This study aimed at evaluation of nodal status of resected specimens and LNR, as well as its impact on the disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) after curative resection of right colon cancer. The institutional registry of the Oncology Center Mansoura University (OCMU) was revised for node-positive right colon cancer cases that were operated in the period between January 2010 and January 2015. Fifty-three patients met the inclusion criteria and were followed up till January 2020. A total of 766 lymph nodes were excised from the patients. Thirty-two patients (60.4%) had a LN yield of ≥12 LNs with a mean LNR of 0.257 ± 0.27. Multivariate analysis of outcomes showed that LNR was significantly correlated with both DFS (p = 0.015) and OS (p = 0.024). Moreover, the number of resected LNs was also associated with statistically significant relationship with the DFS and OS. Our study confirms the validity of LNR as a prognostic tool that correlates with the survival of patients. Moreover, LNR cutoff values may help predict those of high chance of tumor recurrence. MS/20.03.1087 (Institutional IRB), date of registration: March 10, 2020, “retrospectively registered”.