Reason for lymph node removal
Reason for lymph node removal My mum was diagnosed with BC a few weeks ago and went in for a lumpectomy at the weekend. Her surgeon said he might take a couple of lymph nodes or he might take them all. He took them all (or lots, anyway!) My mum, understandably is terrified about the whole thing and so didn’t press the surgeon on why he took several rather than 2 and she doesn’t get the lab results from the surgery for another 8 days. What I am trying to find out is: would he have known by sight that the cancer had spread to the lymph nodes or did he just take several to be on the safe side incase it had spread there? Hope my question makes sense! Many thanks in advance for any replies,
Bsmirched xx
Dear bsmirched You may find Breast Cancer Care’s ‘Treatment for breast cancer’ booklet helpful to read as it contains information regarding the kind of surgery your Mum has recently had. You can read it via the following link:
breastcancercare.org.uk/docs/Breast Cancer Care_treating06_0.pdf
Please also feel free to contact our freephone confidential helpline on 0808 800 6000 if you have further queries which you would like to discuss with our team. The helpline is open Monday to Friday 9am-5pm and Saturday 9am-2pm.
Kind regards
Forum Host
Breast Cancer Care
Lymph Nodes Hi Bsmirched,
Sorry to hear about your mum!
NOT an expert about this, so will just give you my experience - I had a mastectomy and the surgeon did a sentinal node biopsy to see which nodes the fluid from the cancer site when into first (they put blue dye in the site). He removed three of my nodes during the op. (Two other ladies who had their ops on the same day had two and four nodes removed). Pls note - not everyone has a sentinal node biopsy…
Those three were sent off for testing and revealed that the cancer had not spread to any nodes, so I was safe. If they had, I would have had to undergone further surgery to remove other nodes. We all differ as to how many lymph nodes we have in our bodies. Some people do have all or some nodes removed either during initial op or afterwards. I’m sure your mum’s surgeon only removed those he thought needed to come out, rather than just to be on the safe side. It’s a big op with lots of side effects when recovering, so he would only do what was necessary, I’m sure.
Sorry couldn’t be more clear, hopefully someone who had many/all nodes removed will answer. (Or call the helpline - excellent)
Best wishes for your mum - and you.
love,
Jacki xx
Thank you! Thanks, Bunnymum! It’s all the waiting that’s getting to us all I think!
B xx
Hi there,
I had a full axillary clearance when I had my mastectomy as I said to my surgeon he wouldn’t be taking me back to theatre if he didn’t get everything. After surgery he told me that one node looked a bit grizzly but he thought that it was inflammation from my biopsies; the rest looked very healthy. In total I had 22 nodes removed and 9 were cancerous - everyone was very shocked. What I’m saying really is that sometimes what appears to be good is not and what appears to be bad is not. The waiting is truly awful I know. Best of luck to your Mum with her treatment.
Carla x
Lymph node removal - how many? Hi bsmirched…been off-line with a modem problem for a few days, so just caught up with your post. I too, can only speak from my own experience. I had a lumpectomy and “sample node removal” - I didn’t even know I had lymph glands in my armpit at that time and the surgeon and bc nurse had to show me a diagram. He took 8 nodes out (sentinel node biopsy was not done at my hospital 4 yrs ago) and 3 were cancerous, so not a good sign. I went back for total node removal a month later. I believe in all, 18 nodes were removed. Another node was found cancerous at the second surgery, so I was strongly advised to have chemo, which I did. As far as I know, and I am not an expert in any shape or form, no surgeon can tell just by looking at the lymph nodes if they are cancerous. The removed tissue needs to be looked at by a pathologist.
Your Mum should ask for a copy of her pathology report when she gets her surgery results, which will detail the number of nodes removed, and how many, if any, are cancerous. It will also detail other important information such as whether she is ER/PR positive or negative (being positive means you can have hormonal treatment to prevent a recurrence, such as tamoxifen or arimidex) and her HER2 status. This is also important, since if she is HER2- she should be prescribed Herceptin. It should also contain information on the type of tumour (invasive ductal, lobular, etc.) and the size, stage and grade.
Hope I have answered your query, but if you have any more, please post again and I, or others, will try and answer them. You are not alone, and we all feel for you at this difficult time.
Liz.
Hi Bsmirched,
like your mum before I had my lumpectomy almost 2 yrs ago now, my surgeon told me he would either take a sampling of my lymph nodes or remove them all. When I saw him 10 days after my surgery he told me he had taken a total node clearance, I had 12 nodes all in removed, one of which contained cancer. I think this is perhaps common practice with some surgeons. I do not know if he thought my cancer at the time was more advanced than it was, who knows, I have an appointment with him next month and might actually ask him the reason for the total node clearance.
anyway hope you have had some reassurance to your questions from us girls. i sympathise with you and your mum just now, waiting on results etc is always a stressful time, so sending you both very best wishes
Lorri xx
Thank you for the replies! Thanks to everyone who has replied! It’s so helpful to hear from people with real experiences!
B xx
Hi Bsmirched I’ve been away so have only just noticed the postings on the site, I think you have had plenty of advice but I would just like to add that I had a mastectomy in 2003 and had 15 lymph nodes removed, which was very painful I must admit. Every node was clear, I didn’t even have to have chemo. When I found out that people were having the sentinel nodes checked and if no cancer showed, then they were leaving the other nodes, I asked why I had to go through so much pain. The surgeon said that most South African surgeons are firm believers in taking all the nodes out to avoid anything coming back. So I think it is one of those things left to different surgeons.
Tell your Mum that she need not be scared by having such a lot taken out. I felt exactly the same, but 3 years down the line I am well on the way to recovery. No breast cancer came back. Does your Mum have to have chemo or radiation? I hope she is coping well. Roz x
FAO Roz Thanks, Roz. Mum’s surgeon is actually Egyptian, so maybe that explains it! She’s only getting the results on Wednesday, so we won’t know 'til then what treatment they’re recommending.
B xx