Frequency of therapy-relevant staging shifts in colorectal cancer through the introduction of pN1c in the 7th TNM edition

Upstaging of CRCs through the introduction of pN1c occurs in less than 5% of previous stage II and less than 2% of all cancers. Given the biologic relevance of TDs, integration into the UICC staging relevant N-category is justified. The high prognostic impact of TDs, however, is not reflected in nodal positive cancers in both the TNM and UICC staging systems.