Significance of micrometastases in colorectal cancer

Conclusion The combined effort of pathologists, molecular biologists, and surgeons has allowed a very focused examination on select lymph nodes within a specimen. As such, clinicians are afforded the pathologic diagnosis with a smaller and smaller extent of disease. At present, the detection threshold has exceeded the clinical knowledge: that is to say, the mere presence of disease in minute amounts has not yet been studied extensively enough to identify prognostic information from such or to alter the current therapy offered to patients. Continued efforts to define “clinically relevant micrometastases” should persist.