How many lymph nodes are involved?
The more lymph nodes have cancer cells in them, the more serious the cancer might be. For this reason, doctors use the number of involved lymph nodes to help make treatment decisions. Doctors also look at the amount of cancer in the lymph nodes. You may see these words describing how much cancer is in each lymph node: • Microscopic: Only a few cancer cells are in the node. A microscope is needed to find them. • Gross: There is a lot of cancer in the node. You can see or feel the cancer without a microscope. • Extracapsular extension: Cancer has spread outside the wall of the node.
