Objective To investigate the predictive value of metastatic lymph node ratio (MLNR) combined with preoperative serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) in the detection of distant metastasis of stage Ⅱ-Ⅲ colon cancer after radical resection.Methods A retrospective study was performed on the clinical data of 325 patients with stage Ⅱ-Ⅲ colon cancer undergoing radical resection in the Second Hospital of Lanzhou University from Jan 2010 to Jan 2015.Results MLNR was correlated with the maximum diameter of tumors,the degree of differentiation of tumors,clinical TNM stage and distant metastasis (P ＜ 0.05),serum CEA was correlated with the maximum diameter of tumors,clinical TNM stage,nerve or vascular invasion and distant metastasis (P ＜ 0.05).Logistic regression analysis showed that low differentiation of tumor tissue,TNM Ⅲ stage,high MLNR and high serum CEA were independent risk factors for distant metastasis of colon cancer after radical operation.Conclusions The combined detection of MLNR and serum CEA has a good predictive value for distant metastasis with stage Ⅱ-Ⅲ colon cancer.