How many Lymph nodes do they test if you have breast cancer?

Lymph nodes are really only removed at surgery (whether it's mastectomy or breast conserving surgery) in cases of breast cancer, once the diagnosis is established. After removal of the primary tumour, it was standard practice to perform clearance of the axillary lymph nodes (the nodes in the armpit region) in order to check if these have cancer that have spread/metastasized.

These days, it's been shown that it is equally reasonable simply to sampel one particular lymph node - known as the sentinel node. This is the node that receives drainage from the breast first, prior to any others - provided that this is free of cancer, then no further dissection is indicated.

Some surgeons may take only a few (as few as 3), but others may remove several (up to 9) in order to make sure the cancer has not spread. Many surgeons feel comfortable taking only the first few lymph nodes, known as the sentinel nodes. These nodes are closest to the central region of the breast and the rest of the nodes move along a line outward and up toward the armpit.

These (sentinel) nodes are first in line and usually would hold any cancer cells if the cancer has spread (metastasized). The reason they only take the sentinel nodes is that it's unlikely that the cancer cells make it past these nodes to the rest of the lymph nodes and lymphatic system if it's been determined that they don't have any cancer cells in them.

I hope this helps.

Alan McPeck

the charityplush.com team

catch http://www.cancerssociety.org/ for more info...