Diagnosed mets after stage I-III with no positive nodes?

I know many people diagnosed with mets with no cancer in the lymph nodes. We do lots to reduce our risk, but nothing eliminates risk. Hoping you get your results soon.

There is an article on this site explaining that cancer in the axillary lymph nodes is different from cancer in the blood/lymphatic system. I have read also that contrary to common belief, cancer does not necessarily travel from the axillary lymph nodes to distant areas of the body and so removal of or radiation of the nodes does not prevent distant mets.

Presence of cancer in the axillary lymph nodes is important nevertheless because it is an indication of how aggressive the cancer is. It was explained this way: if your car is speeding, the speedometer shows how fast the car is going but removal of the speedometer will not slow the car down. Similarly removal of the axillary nodes will not slow down the cancer as it can spread through the blood/lymphatic system. So I think our obsession with lymph nodes being positive or negative is somewhat misplaced. Real question is whether a cancer cell or cells have escaped the breast through the blood/lymphatic system -- this can happen without going through the axillary lymph nodes at all. So radiation may kill cancer cells in the breast/underarm nodes but will not kill them elsewhere. Chemo is the treatment with the best chance of getting those small escaped cells. That is my understanding. Polly

The concept of tumor dormancy is something to keep in mind. In brief, some cells which leave the breast (no one dies from early stage BC), remain untouched by chemo because they are not in a growth phase. Then, after hiding out for a while - perhaps years or decades later, they begin to multiply. The mechanism by which this occurs is a topic for research.

Also, our immune systems are tracking down and, hopefully, destroying mutants before they gain a foothold.

Thank you Pupmom! I learn something new about BC nearly every day! So the stage you get based off the surgical pathology report can change depending on later discovery of lymphatic or vascular spread, correct? In my path report, for the lymphatic/vascular invasion it said "unknown". Not very helpful...

They biopsied a node before surgery which ended up just being reactive but negative for cancer. Then I had a sentinel node taken/tested during lumpectomy which was also negative. I will ask the oncologist about the lymphatic/vascular invasion part of the path report. I never had any additional testing done.

Cleokeep, my report said regarding lympho/vascular invasion, "none noted," meaning that particular issue was not found. Maybe that's what your report means, just in different language. I would definitely call and ask though.