Objective: To investigate the expression of podoplanin in rectal cancer tissues and its relation with lymph node metastasis. Methods: The expression of podoplanin and lymphatic microvessel density (LMVD) in 110 cases of rectal cancer tissues was evaluated by imrnunohistochemical analysis, and 90 cases of benign disease rectal tissues were used as the control. Results: The positive expression rate of podoplanin in the rectal cancer tissues was significantly higher than that in the benign disease rectal tissues (P<0.01). The podoplanin positive LMVD of the stage III-IV cases was significantly higher than that of the stage I-II cases (P<0.01), and the LMVD of the cases with lymph node metastases was significantly higher than that of the cases without lymph node metastasis (P<0.01). The podoplanin expression was irrelevant to the age, sex and tumor differentiation degree of the rectal cancer patients. Conclusion: Podoplanin may play an important role in lymph vessel neogenesis, and can be used as an immunohistochemical marker for the diagnosis and estimation of prognosis of rectal cancer.