Does re-evaluation of colorectal cancers with inadequate nodal yield lead to stage migration or the identification of metastatic lymph nodes?

RESULTS: eighty-three patients underwent pathologic reevaluation from a total of 1682 cancer specimens. mean nodal yields were 7.2 ± 2.6 on the first pathologic review. on reevaluation, 80% of patients had one or more newly identified nodes. on average, 6.9 ± 9.6 more lymph nodes were identified with a metastatic node detected in 4 of 83 patients (4.8%). after pathologic reevaluation, 1 patient (1.2%) had a change in tnm stage from n1 to n2 disease. the lymph node ratio changed in 13 of 15 patients (87% of stage iii cancers). only 4 of these had a change in lymph node quartile.