Reactive swelling of the regional lymph nodes in patients with stage II colorectal cancer as a prognostic factor

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between reactive swelling of regional lymph node (LN) and survival in colorectal carcinoma. We retrospectively studied 170 patients with surgically resected colorectal carcinoma histopathologically diagnosed as stage II (pStage II). These patients were classified into two groups:a) a "reactive LN swelling" group (clinically diagnosed as positive for LN metastasis, but pathologically negative) and b) a "no LN swelling" group. Survival analyses of the two groups showed that overall survival (OS) and disease-specific survival (DSS) were longer in the reactive LN swelling group than in the no LN swelling group in patients with total colorectal and right-sided colon cancer. Multivariate analyses revealed that reactive LN swelling was an independent prognostic factor in OS and DSS in patients with right-sided colon cancer. Reactive swelling of regional LN is regarded as an expression of local immune responses, which could explain the present results.