Checking this should be part of a clinical breast exam, as well as your monthly self-exam.
It’s important to see a healthcare provider for a correct diagnosis.
As these cells grow and divide, they may also invade nearby tissueincluding lymph nodes.
Illustration by Emily Roberts for Verywell Health
Lymph nodes are in various locations, including breast tissue itself.
A growing tumor may shed a cell or a clump of cells.
It can use your blood or lymph system as a transport online grid throughout your body.
Get our printable guide for your next healthcare provider’s appointment to help you ask the right questions.
How Is Lymph Node-Positive Breast Cancer Diagnosed?
Procedures performed during the surgery itself include sentinel lymph node biopsy and axillary lymph node dissection.
Those nodes are then removed and checked for cancer.
Anaxillary lymph node dissectionis an alternative to a sentinel lymph node biopsy.
Get our printable guide for your next healthcare provider’s appointment to help you ask the right questions.
Positive
If you have cancer cells in your lymph nodes, your cancer is consideredlymph node-positive.
The stage of breast cancer with positive lymph nodes depends on how many cancer cells are found.
How Is Lymph Node-Positive Breast Cancer Treated?
Treatment is designed to kill off as many of your cancer cells as possible.
Having just one cancer cell in your body is one too many.
Another category of medications calledbisphosphonateswas recently approved for postmenopausal people who have early-stage breast cancer.
Thebisphosphate medication Zometa (zoledronic acid)appears to reduce the risk of developing bone metastases.
(The bones are the most common site of metastases with breast cancer.)
What Is the Prognosis for Breast Cancer Spread to Lymph Nodes?
What is the survival rate for node positive breast cancer?
While it may feel overwhelming, you could learn to cope with this fear in positive ways.
It’s also important toadvocate for yourself when going through treatment.
That said, sometimes the fear of recurrence can interfere with your quality of life.
Your healthcare provider can help you find a good therapist who can help you work through your fears.
Finding a good support group or online support community is also very helpful.
A biopsy is often the first step in determining what your lymph node status is.
Family,support groups, and in-hospital staff can help to support you during and after your treatment.
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Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.About your lymphatic mapping procedure.
An updated meta-analysis involving 3,398 patients.Am J Surg.
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