Methylene blue-assisted lymph node dissection technique is not associated with an increased detection of lymph node metastases in colorectal cancer

Lymph node staging is of paramount importance for prognosis estimation and therapy stratification in colorectal cancer. A high number of harvested lymph nodes is associated with an improved outcome. Methylene blue-assisted lymph node dissection effectively improves the lymph node harvest and ensures sufficient staging. Now, the effect on node positivity rate and stage-related outcome was investigated. The study cohort with advanced lymph node dissection consisted of 669 colorectal cancer cases of all stages, which were collected between 2007 and 2012. A historical collection of 663 cases investigated with conventional techniques between 2002 and 2004 served as control. Lymph node harvest was dramatically improved in the study group with mean lymph node numbers of 34 ± 17 vs 13 ± 5 (P<0.001) and sufficient staging rates of 98% vs 62% (P<0.001). However, neither the rate of nodal positive cases (37% vs 37%; P = 0.98) nor the rate of N2 cases differed between the two groups (14% vs 13%; P = 0.80). Furthermore, no differences were found concerning the outcome in both groups. The advanced lymph node dissection technique guarantees adequate histopathological lymph node staging in virtually all cases of colorectal cancer and is therefore extremely helpful. The hypothesis that it also provides a higher sensitivity in detecting metastases, however, could be not proved.