Abstract: Objective To investigate the predictive value of metastatic lymph node ratio for postoperative distant metastasis in
patients with colorectal cancer. Methods The clinicopathological data were collected from 180 patients with colorectal cancer
who underwent surgical resection in General Hospital of PLA between from January, 2007 to January, 2012. The patients were
divided into 2 groups according to the presence of distant organ metastasis and the clinicopathological factors were analyzed
with Chi-square test and logistic regression. Results Of the 118 surgical patients enrolled, 118 were free of distant metastasis
and 62 had distant metastasis involving the liver (39 cases), lungs (12 cases), and multiple organs (11 cases). The gross types,
differentiation, ELN and LNR of the tumors differed significantly between the two groups. Logistic regression analysis showed
that LNR was an independent factor correlating to distant metastasis of colorectal cancer. Conclusion LNR is independently
correlated with distant organ metastasis of colorectal cancer and serves as an important predicative factor for estimating the
prognosis of colorectal cancer.