axilllary node dissection

I get the impression it's not an "exact science".
I was shocked when I found out my surgeon had removed 17 lymph nodes. When I asked him about it he said they can't really see the lymph nodes because they are so small. If I understood him correctly, he indicted that they just cut out a section without knowing for certain how many lymph nodes they will get. If you get better info, please, please share it with us.

had the node dissection
i went in for a bilat. mastectomy with a sentinel node biopsy the same time. 3 nodes were removed, one was hot. i was scheduled for an axillary node dissection about a week later; after the final pathology report was back. the doc said he took all of the axillary nodes which was 20 total. are you having the sentinel node biopsy before the axillary node dissection? for me the axillary node dissection was a harder surgery to recover from. from what i have been told there is no set number of nodes so it does vary from person to person. when i asked the doc why he took all of the nodes he really did not have an answer for me. the only hot one was found in the SNB so i don't even know if the axillary node dissection was necessary but it is better to be safe than sorry.

cahjah75 said:

Ann
I had bilateral mastectomy with sentinel node. My surgeon said he took 2 from one side and they were clear. From the other side more were bunched together so he took 5 but all were clear. My sister had 7 positive for cancer but I don't know how many her surgeon actually removed.
{{hugs}} Char

Me Too!
I'm confused as well! I had the sentinel node biopsy. Had the dye injected before my masectomy. I had 4 nodes removed - all negative. Hopefully someone out there can enlighten us!

Hugs, Sally

sal314 said:

Well, I'm No "Expert"
and I was one of the guinea pigs being "tested" on the whole sentinal node procedure 9 years ago. My understanding (and it could have changed since then!) is that they take the sentinal node and see if it's cancer. They then give you the dye and when they scan you, whatever nodes turn up "hot", meaning a brighter color, they take them. For some, that may be several, for others, like me, it might just be three or four. I had two taken from under my armpit and two from the middle of my chest. Everything, thankfully, was clear.

So...not so sure that's any help. And the whole process could have very well changed since I had it done

If you're still unclear about it, tell your doctor you want an explaination of how it works. They should be more than willing to explain it to you.

Oh...I also know that the fewer nodes they take, the less likely you will develope lymphodema risks and problems.

Blessings,
Sally

But....
My dx was 2/12 years ago and I had the dye injection done a couple of hours before my surgery so I had to have had the sentinel node checked while I was out and for some random reason three other nodes were taken. Maybe they just take some nodes that happen to be near the sentinel one. My surgeon told me afterwards that all looked good but we'd have to wait for the path report to be sure. So maybe things have changed or maybe different doctors and hospitals do things differently. The more I read on this forum, the more I realize that there are so many treatments and so many variations- it makes things very confusing.

Hugs, Sally

This is the way my surgeon
This is the way my surgeon explained it to me. I went in early for my lumpectomy - radioactive isotopes were injected close to the tumor, then we waited under a kind of x ray to watch the isotopes travel. Since the lymph nodes absorb the isotopes, and the radioactive-ness shows up on the x ray as bright spots, the radiologist can pinpoint the exact location of the first lymph nodes the isotopes come to (they are brighter than the other little spots). I got to watch this whole process on a screen - they said it can take anywhere from fifteen minutes to a couple hours, depending upon how fast fluid is moving through your system. The radiologist marks the first two or three nodes so that the surgeon can remove them at the beginning of the surgery. They are called sentinel nodes because they act as "sentinels" to the lymph system...

After removal, they are sent to the lab for a cursory look for cancer. If no cancer cells are found, the surgeon closes you up after the lumpectomy (mastectomy) and home you go. The tumor and the nodes are then sent for a "full pathology" - in my case this full pathology found "one small particle of cancer in one of the sentinel nodes" So, in I went for a second surgery to remove the lymph nodes. My surgeon says every person may have a different number, and since they take out the whole "clump" they don't know how many there will be until afterwards. She says lymph nodes are like little grapes, but longer stringier stems so they are not quite like a grape clump. No more cancer cells were found in my nodes. I had eleven out the second time for a total of fourteen. She says the average is thirteen to twenty.

I had a great surgeon who sat and talked me through all my questions before and after surgery. Good luck with your surgery!