Factors influencing apical node metastasis in colorectal cancer patients treated with laparoscopic radical resection with D3 lymphadenectomy: results from two centers in China

To identify the risk factors for apical node metastasis in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients who underwent laparoscopic radical resection with D3 lymphadenectomy. The subjects were 578 consecutive patients who underwent laparoscopic radical resection with D3 lymphadenectomy for CRC between February, 2003 and December, 2009. The Cox proportional regression model was used to evaluate the association between apical node metastasis and survival and the logistic regression model was used to identify the risk factors for apical node metastasis. Thirty patients (5.2 %) had apical node metastasis, which was an independent risk factor for poor disease-free survival [hazard ratio (HR) = 3.02, P = 0.019]. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that poor differentiation [odds ratio (OR) = 4.58, P