Lymphadenopathy

Hey horizons,

I'm somewhat familiar with lymph node pathology since I'm going through my second surgery for lymph node resection from stage 3B malignant melanoma. I presume you would start with blood work, CBCx2 and metabolic panel etc... If unknow etiology, consider testing for toxoplasmosis. You then might want to get CT imaging done w/WO contrast. If you have positive results, Interventional Radiology can do a ultrasound guided needle core biopsy under local anesthetic (lidocaine injection). The results take about 12 days for the pathologist to complete the report, and from there decide if it is cancerous if you need to see a oncologist for medical treatment. Depending how advanced the disease progression is they might want a full body PET/CT. Thoracic surgeons, and some qualified general surgeons can remove the lymph node with margins. (Remember most oncology surgeons started their residency in general surgery). In some cases the doctors want to try neo adjunctive before surgery due to long term durability of the immune response and 12 moth survival stats. Let me know if you need any further advice. Stand strong!