Posted on 04/14/2024 8:59:11 PM PDT by ConservativeMind
Removal of armpit lymph nodes can leave many breast cancer patients with lingering lymphedema, a painful and unsightly swelling of the arm.
It's long been known that if a breast cancer has extensively spread within the lymph nodes, removing those nodes is the patient's only recourse.
…To help clarify things for patients with such findings, de Boniface and colleagues tracked outcomes for nearly 2,800 breast cancer patients from five countries. All had metastases that were larger than 2 millimeters in one or two of their sentinel nodes.
About half of the group were randomly chosen to undergo more complete armpit node removal, while nodes for the other half of patients were left undisturbed.
All patients also got post-surgical chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy to help mop up stray cancer cells, the Swedish team noted.
They report that in a third of all cases where more complete lymph node removal was performed, signs of cancer's spread were found.
The researchers assume that this level of metastasized cancer was happening in the lymph of women who had not undergone further lymph node removal.
However, the rate of breast cancer recurrence was roughly equal for both groups.
That suggests that post-op chemotherapy/radiation was usually sufficient to deal with any stray cancer lurking in the lymph nodes of all the patients, the Stockholm team said.
There was a downside to opting for more radical lymph removal: 13% of patients who'd done so went on to experience debilitating lymphedema, compared to just 4% of those who'd only gotten their sentinal nodes removed, the study found.
"Our assessment is that it is safe for patients to forgo axillary dissection [node removal] if there are a maximum of two macrometastases in the sentinel lymph nodes," de Boniface said.
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
I took out where they mention about testing other lymph nodes and seeing some with cancer, to meet excerpt limits.
I think some day it’ll be realize that drs have been mutilating and scarring people for no good reasons.....
The average man like myself has no idea what some women go through after being “treated” for breast cancer.
I know mastectomies are often used, but I had not thought about the surrounding glands and tissues. If it’s possible to leave those lymph glands in place after treatment, then do it. Each patient has their own needs and reactions.
Living without chronic pain should be a primary goal.
I have one of those unsightly arms but I am 30 years out from my breast cancer diagnosis and don’t regret the extreme chemo or the removal of a large amount of lymph nodes. I was a single parent and still had four children in school. I had a very aggressive cancer and it called for aggressive treatment. Don’t second guess my treatment. I worked with a woman who was told she only needed a lumpectomy. She died 5 years later.
Sometimes, the doctor isn’t “exaggerating” or “just wanting to get his way”. It’s good that you listened to sound medical advice. Your kids have been blessed to still have you in their lives.
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