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Tom1981
Tom1981 Member Posts: 52
edited May 2017 in Stage III Breast Cancer

I'm dealing much better today (thanks ladies). I was sitting at treatment with the wife and it got me thinking about things. Why do they stage things on number of nodes rather than a percentage? I mean wouldn't you think the odds might be better for someone with 1 out 20 nodes positive rather than 1 out of 10. Thoughts?

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  • soozy
    soozy Member Posts: 10
    edited May 2017

    If I understand the question (I sometimes don't) One positive node is one positive node. It doesn't matter how many they looked at to find the one showing cancer.

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  • Tom1981
    Tom1981 Member Posts: 52
    edited May 2017

    I find that interesting because seemingly, and I may be wrong (probably am), it would not make it possible for some women or men to be diagnosed 3c due to lack of total nodes.

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  • muska
    muska Member Posts: 1,195
    edited May 2017
    Hi Tom, here's how I look at it. Staging is about grouping patients with similar extent of the disease into categories. Clinicians use certain treatments on patients with similar extent of the disease. That grouping facilitates treatment decisions but the limits between the groups/stages are often fluid. However, in most cases it doesn't matter whether someone is categorized as stage 2 or 3.The treatment is usually the same. Actually, in many cases it is no different that treatment for stage 4.
    I asked what my stage was after I completed radiation. I would have received the same treatment if I were stage 2 or 4 from the start.
    So it doesn't matter much whether someone has 5 or 7 nodes.
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  • MmeJ
    MmeJ Member Posts: 167
    edited May 2017

    Current thinking is that It does matter how many nodes, as a ratio, in terms of survival stats. Here are links to a couple of abstracts on the topic:

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26214625

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26055316

    However, you can note in my sig that 100% of my nodes were positive AFTER chemo, and I'm still here, almost seven years out. We can never really know.

    I had a PET/CT scan prior to establishing my treatment plan because my MO had ample reason to think I might have been Stage IV from the get-go, and my treatment plan would have been different had that been the case.

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  • soozy
    soozy Member Posts: 10
    edited May 2017

    I don't understand this. Can someone put it in simple to understand please? Links are complicated for me. I appreciate any help

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  • letsgogolf
    letsgogolf Member Posts: 263
    edited May 2017

    The whole node thing is a puzzle for me. I had a slow, 1 cm, stage 1, grade 1 tumor. Oncotype score was only 3. Mitotic rate was only 1 and Ki67 was only 3. How was it possible that I had 2 micro. deposits in my sentinel node? My sister had a larger tumor, grade 2 (nearly 3) with more aggressive stats and her sentinel node was negative. Most of the postings that I have read are from those with larger, more aggressive tumors and their nodes were fine, also. I have also read many posts from those with small, grade 1, slow acting tumors that have spread. I just think there is so much that researchers don't understand about breast cancer.

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  • caaclark
    caaclark Member Posts: 936
    edited May 2017

    I don't think it matters how many nodes are taken.  For example, had 13 nodes removed and 6 of them were positive.  If they had taken 26 nodes, it is likely that 6 of them would be positive.  The total number does not necessarily change the number of positives.


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  • pink_is_my_colour
    pink_is_my_colour Member Posts: 308
    edited May 2017

    I have bilateral cancer.The only nodes they took out were on the left breast where I have the invasive ductal cancer. I have 2 out of six nodes with macrometasteses. Really, each person's cancer is individual and unique. I'm waiting on a first visit with an oncologist to determine what my treatment will be. I expect it will be chemo, then radiation. Each of us responds to the treatment in our own way.

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