Lymph Node Cluster Dissection After Carbon Nanoparticles Injection Enhances the Retrieval Number in Colorectal Cancer

Abstract

For colorectal cancer patients, NCCN recommended that at least 12 lymph nodes should be detected since the number and metastases status of lymph nodes played an important role in the treatment and prognostic. Carbon nanoparticles have been proved to be an efficient lymph node tracer. Faced with the clinical problem of insufficient lymph nodes in colorectal cancer, we proposed a lymph node cluster (D3, D2 and D1) dissection method combined with carbon nanoparticle injection. In our study, patients were divided into 2 groups (CNP and control). All lymph nodes of each patient were collected and made into hematoxylin-eosin sections to observe their size, staining appearance and metastasis status under the microscope. As a result, the total lymph nodes in CNP group were greatly higher than control group (51.45 vs. 29.62, P = 0.000), especially micro LNs and positive micro LNs. Compared with D2 and D1 stations, fewer lymph nodes were found in D3, and it was the same for cancer metastasis status. In CNP group, most lymph nodes got black for quick visualization. In conclusion, lymph node cluster dissection combined with carbon nanoparticles could enhance the number of lymph node retrieval.