Internal Mammary Lymph Nodes?

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Each_day_2018
Each_day_2018 Member Posts: 154
edited August 2018 in IDC (Invasive Ductal Carcinoma)

Recently had an MRI. The tumor showed up as nearly twice the size originally suspected. It is in the Lower Outer quadrant. The lymph nodes closest to the tumor, which are under the arm, showed negative on MRI. However,one internal mammary node behind sternum showed swollen on the MRI. Because of this, I am going for a PET scan on Wednesday....Dr is concerned because generally, the affected nodes are those closest to the tumor site, and the one that is swollen is farthest away.

Are there reasons for this location of nodes to be swollen? Could they show up swollen and turn out to be nothing? Or would this mean that the cancer has spread/is larger than the MRI shows? Or possibly another tumor? I would assume if it was another tumor, the MRI would have picked it up though....but I'm not sure; this is a whole new world for me!

Any insight would be appreciated!!

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  • Each_day_2018
    Each_day_2018 Member Posts: 154
    edited August 2018

    it was confirmed by PET/CT that the cancer is in the lymph node.

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  • ElaineTherese
    ElaineTherese Member Posts: 3,328
    edited August 2018

    Hi!

    Breast cancer can travel via your bloodstream and/or lymph system. That's how women get breast cancer in their liver, lungs, bones, brain, etc.. It does seem as though your cancer has gone to a relatively distant node. But, that doesn't mean that your cancer has made it to the bones or another organ. If you had a full-body PET/CT, and nothing else lit up, then you may be free of distant mets. I would think that this node would mean chemo and hormonal therapy at the least. ((Hugs))

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  • Each_day_2018
    Each_day_2018 Member Posts: 154
    edited August 2018

    thanks for responding! Nothing else lit up, so we are confident it has not spread to anything other than the lymph node. It was still very unexpected! (I guess all of BC is unexpected). I was suspected to Be stage 1, but dr said it may change now. We shall see

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  • ElaineTherese
    ElaineTherese Member Posts: 3,328
    edited August 2018

    Well, my lump "grew" from 3.9 cm to 5+ cm, thanks to my MRI. I wouldn't worry so much about stage but rather, whether your cancer would benefit from chemo. Once you have surgery, your tumor should undergo the Onctotype test to see whether the benefits of chemo outweigh the risks.

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