Lymphatic mapping and sentinel node analysis in colon cancer.

Accurate staging of colon cancer is prognostically and therapeutically important. By identifying those patients who would most benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy, accurate staging should decrease recurrence rates and improve overall survival. Lymphatic mapping and sentinel node analysis allow for a focused review of the lymph nodes, which are most likely to harbor a metastasis and may make ultrastaging techniques, such as immunohistochemistry and reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction, more practical. The prognostic significance of micrometastatic disease detected via ultrastaging techniques remains controversial.