Is Chemo Necessary if Lymph Nodes are Negative?
For women with invasive breast cancer, there is a concern that the disease may have traveled to other organs such as the lung, bone or liver. Due to this risk, lymph nodes are checked at time of the breast cancer surgery to see if there is evidence of spread to the lymphatic system. The sentinel node is the current method used to evaluate whether metastasis has occurred. Yes, we can celebrate when we see that the sentinel node is negative but this isn’t a guarantee that the cancer hasn’t traveled. For this reason, the size of the tumor, any evidence of angioinvasion (meaning blood vessels are seen within the cancer cells) or lymphatic invasion (meaning lymphatic vessels are seen wihtnin the cancer cells) is checked by the pathologist under the microscope. When angio or lymphatic invasion is detected, it could mean that the cancer cells traveled to other parts of the body using one of these two methods of transport-blood vessels or lymphatic vessels. Several prognostic factors, such as
