BMI and Lymph Node Count in Colorectal Cancer

Background and aim: Colorectal Cancer (CRC) is one of the most frequent cancer entities in the western world. It is known that obesity is one of the major risk factors for CRC. In contrast, mild obesity seems to have a positive effect on postoperative outcome, which is known as the "obesity paradox". Also, the number of resected lymph nodes (LN) during surgery is very important for correct staging. The aim of the present project is to evaluate the impact of BMI and LN-yield on long term overall survival (OS) of CRC patients treated with curative intent. Methods: Patients treated for CRC between 1998 and 2011 at the Klinik Favoriten in Vienna, Austria were analyzed in this retrospective single-center cohort analysis concerning OS.