Abstract: Objective To investigate the prognostic value of lymph node ratio（LNR） in predicting overall survival and diseasefree survival in colorectal cancer(CRC) patients with metatastic lymph nodes. Methods From July 2003 to December 2007， data from a total of 102 patients who underwent radical operation for CRC with lymph node metastases were analyzed. The patients were stratified into four groups according to LNR quartiles：LNR1（LNR≤Q1），LNR2（Q1＜LNR≤Q2），LNR3（Q2＜LNR＜Q3） and LNR4（LNR≥Q3）.KaplanMeier method was used to evaluate the survival. A Cox regression model was used for multivariate analyses. Results The 3-year overall survival rate and diseasefree survival rate were 72.5％ and 61.8％ in CRC patients with stage ⅢⅣ. The 3year overall survival rate in patients with adenocarcinoma and low grade differentiation was higher（P＜0.05）. The 3year overall survival rates of patients with LNR1， LNR2， LNR3 and LNR4 were 100.0％，76.9％，68.0％ and 42.3％，respectively（P＜0.001）. The 3year disease-free survival rates of patients with LNR1， LNR2， LNR3 and LNR4 were 92.0％， 61.5％， 68.0％ and 26.9％， respectively（P＜0.001）. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that the prognosis in LNR1+LNR2 group was superior to LNR3+LNR4 group（P＜0.05）. Cox proportional hazards regression analysis revealed that LNR was an independent significant factor in predicting 3-year overall and diseasefree survival for CRC patients（P=0.036）. Conclusion The LNR is a major independent prognostic factor for the CRC patients with node-positive.