THE and pretracheal node question

LauraandLarry
LauraandLarry Member Posts: 184
in Esophageal Cancer #1

Ok, I'm being a little impatient waiting for Thursday appt with surgeon. My question is does anyone know if the surgeon is able to remove a pretracheal node during a THE surgery? I have researched endlessly, and I know that he can remove other nodes during surgery, however dont know if this particular one that is 4cm can be.  Have any of you had to have additional chemo before surgery?

Comments

  • NikiMo
    NikiMo Member Posts: 342
    #2
    My husband did

    Hi Laura,

     

    My husband had a paratracheal node light up on his pre-surgery PET scan.  We did the long week wait to see if the surgeon would move forward.  In my husbands case the node was questionable, the oncologist didn't think it was cancer, the surgeon wasn't sure.  The surgeon changed from a THE approach to the IL, because then the node was in the surgical field.  The surgery lasted 7 hours, he had two incisions, one up his abdomen and another around his rib cage on his left side.  The pathology report showed no cancer left in the esophagus and all 17 lymph nodes were clear.  The doctors think the node had been inflamed from the radiation.  My husband will have his 18 month scan in early March, so far so good.

    Try to take deep breaths, I hope my story gives you some hope.

    Niki

  • LauraandLarry
    LauraandLarry Member Posts: 184
    #3
    NikiMo said:

    My husband did

    Hi Laura,

     

    My husband had a paratracheal node light up on his pre-surgery PET scan.  We did the long week wait to see if the surgeon would move forward.  In my husbands case the node was questionable, the oncologist didn't think it was cancer, the surgeon wasn't sure.  The surgeon changed from a THE approach to the IL, because then the node was in the surgical field.  The surgery lasted 7 hours, he had two incisions, one up his abdomen and another around his rib cage on his left side.  The pathology report showed no cancer left in the esophagus and all 17 lymph nodes were clear.  The doctors think the node had been inflamed from the radiation.  My husband will have his 18 month scan in early March, so far so good.

    Try to take deep breaths, I hope my story gives you some hope.

    Niki

    Thank you Niki. Yes, you do

    Thank you Niki. Yes, you do give me hope! I am not sure if our surgeon even would do the Ivor Lewis due to the fact that he is the surgeon that has perfected the THE, Dr Mark Orringer at the University of Michigan. We jjumped through hoops to see him. Ugh hopefully everything will work out, I just want it all out!

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