Risk factors for nodal involvement in early stage rectal cancer: a new scoring system based in the analysis of 326 cases

The purpose of this study was to identify which clinicopathological features of early-stage rectal cancer (ESRC) are significantly correlated with the risk of local-regional lymph node metastases (LNM) and to quantify the strength of this association through a novel scoring system. According to several case studies, about 20% of operated ESRC are found with occult lymph nodal metastases at the histological examination. The low frequency of local recurrence in these tumours treated with total mesorectal excision (TME) compared to transanal approaches highlights the role of mesorectal lymph nodes as a site of metastatic location.