Factors associated with lymph node retrieval in surgery for colorectal cancer.

Purpose: Accurate staging of cancers of the colon and rectum (CRC) requires adequate lymph node (LN) evaluation, and many studies have demonstrated an association between the number of LNs examined and survival. The number of lymph nodes which are retrieved during resections for CRC may however vary and has been associated with various factors in the literature. The aim of the present study was to identify such factors in our CRC surgical practice.