The authors have re-evaluated the lymph node status of 221 patients operated on for colorectal cancer and submitted to a five years follow-up in order to evaluate the role of the number of positive nodes and its "ratio" as negative prognostic factors of recurrences. In the patient classified as B2 stage, the recurrences occurred in spite of adequate number of negative nodes, in C1 + C2 stage the lymph node "ratio" could be considered an appropriate prognostic factor.