Background/Aims. The aim of this study was to establish whether, and to what extent, preand intraoperatively detected characteristics (demographic, anamnestic and laboratory data) and tumor characteristics can be used in the assessment of regional lymph node involvement in patients with colorectal carcinoma. The assessment also included the number of lymph nodes involved in patients with positive lymph nodes. Considering that the number of obtained lymph nodes is resected specimens, assessment parameters also included the percentage of the involved lymph nodes within the total population of lymph nodes.
Methodology. From 2010-2019, 46 patients with carcinoma of the rectum and sigmoid colon were studied, with a total number of 736 lymph nodes evaluated. Out of the total number of lymph nodes, 577 (78.4%) were benign and 159 (21.6%), malignant. Data were analyzed by multi-variant statistical methods: discriminant analysis and multiple regression.
Results. For this patient group, we evaluated the following potentially predictive factors for lymph node involvement: age; serum hemoglobin, albumin and alkaline phosphatase levels; weight loss; and the primary tumor localization characteristics: histological type, macroscopic growth pattern and depth of tumor invasion of the bowel wall. We found that there was no difference in the prediction of regional lymph node involvement between analysis of the aforementioned parameters and analysis of the isolated discriminators only.
Conclusion. A predictability likelihood of 83.78% greatly surpasses the acceptable error tolerance level of 5%. Correlation of demographic, anamnestic and laboratory data about the patient and the characteristics of the primary tumor cannot be used in distinguishing malignant lymph nodes from benign ones. These data cannot be the basis for exact intraoperative staging and thus cannot be significant criteria foe decision-making about operative treatment modalities.
