Specimen length as a perioperative surrogate marker for adequate lymphadenectomy in colon cancer: the surgeon's role.

The objective of this study was to determine whether there is a correlation between the length of the sigmoid colon removed and the number of harvested lymph nodes (LNs). Pathology charts of 137 sigmoid resections that were done over a 5-year period were reviewed. The length of removed sigmoid specimen reported in the pathology reports was correlated with the number of LNs retrieved from the specimen. The mean and median numbers of retrieved LNs were 9 and 10, respectively. There was an increase in the number of retrieved LNs with increasing length of resected sigmoid colon. For Dukes' B patients, the average length of the resected specimen was 15.1 cm for those with < 12 LNs and 20.3 cm for those with > 12 LNs (P = 0.01). Our data suggest that the surgeon may play an important role in determining the extent of LN harvesting during large bowel resection for cancer.