Copyright: ©Author(s) 2026. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license. No commercial re-use. See permissions. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc.
World J Gastrointest Oncol. Aug 15, 2026; 18(8): 122077
Published online Aug 15, 2026. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.122077
Published online Aug 15, 2026. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.122077
Clinical value of carbon nanoparticles in identifying metastatic lymph nodes in colorectal cancer: A single-center observational study
Bing-Jun Bai, Deng-Yong Xu, Li Chen, Zhang-Fa Song, Department of Colorectal Surgery, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310016, Zhe
Bing-Jun Bai, Zhang-Fa Song, Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Biological Treatment, Hangzhou 310016, Zhejiang Province, China
Bing-Jun Bai, Zhang-Fa Song, Key Laboratory of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine Research on Anorectal Diseases of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou 310016, Zhejiang Province, China
Li-Ya Ding, Department of Pathology, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310016, Zhejiang Province, China
Co-first authors: Bing-Jun Bai and Deng-Yong Xu.
Author contributions: Bai BJ and Xu DY were responsible for the study conception and design, as they are co-first authors; Chen L analyzed the data and wrote the manuscript; Ding LY and Song ZF critically revised the article for important intellectual content; all the authors reviewed and approved the final version to be published.
AI contribution statement: No AI tool was involved in the generation of research data, interpretation of results, or formulation of conclusions.
Institutional review board statement: The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University (No. 2024-0110).
Informed consent statement: Written informed consent was obtained from all participants.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement—a checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement-a checklist of items.
Data sharing statement: Technical appendix, statistical code, and dataset available from the corresponding author at
Corresponding author: Zhang-Fa Song, MD, Doctor, Department of Colorectal Surgery, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, No. 3 Qinchun East Road, Hangzhou 310016, Zhejiang Province, China. songzhangfa@zju.edu.cn
Received: April 13, 2026
Revised: June 7, 2026
Accepted: June 17, 2026
Published online: August 15, 2026
Processing time: 118 Days and 6.1 Hours
Revised: June 7, 2026
Accepted: June 17, 2026
Published online: August 15, 2026
Processing time: 118 Days and 6.1 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: The clinical value of carbon nanoparticles (CNPs) staining for identifying metastatic lymph nodes (LNs) in colorectal cancer remains unclear. Our study demonstrates that while CNPs staining can effectively trace LNs, tumor metastasis is more frequently observed in non-stained LNs.