Lymph node harvest in colon and rectal cancer: Current considerations

Table 3 Mean number of lymph nodes associated with age and tumor location

	No. of cases	No. of lymph nodes (mean ± SD)
Age (yr)
≤ 50	40	18.2 ± 12.6
> 50 and ≤ 60	82	17.8 ± 9.5
> 60 and ≤ 70	109	14.4 ± 8.0a
> 70 and ≤ 80	117	15.1 ± 7.2a
> 80	82	14.9 ± 7.4a
Location
Cecum/ ascending colon	161	17.8 ± 7.9c
Transverse colon	22	14.5 ± 7.0
Descending colon	15	19.0 ± 12.5
Sigmoid colon	167	14.3 ± 9.4
Rectum	69	13.7 ± 6.6

^aP = 0.002 vs age ≤ 60 years;

^cP < 0.001 and P = 0.001 vs tumors from sigmoid colon and rectum, respectively.