Re: Lymph Node Biopsy Result Accuracy


"Walker Moore" <walker.moore@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:5nihlvFibdj9U1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hi folks, I'll try to keep this short as poss, but it won't be easy. ;)

Earlier this year (around March), my mother (59 years old) discovered a
lump on the left of her groin, slightly above the crease of her leg.

Her Doctor thought it was a hernia and referred to the hospital.
The consultant agreed that it was a hernia and booked her in for surgery.

Due to NHS waiting times, that procedure didn't take place until August
14th 2007.

During the surgery, it was discovered she didn't have a hernia at all, but
an enlarged lymph node. The surgeon performed an open lymph biopsy,
stitched her back up and told her the news.

After two weeks of worryin, she was told that the biopsy results were
clear. No cancer was found, and he suggested the enlarged node was
probably caused by an infection.

**My primary question is: How accurate is an open lymph biopsy?

Would metastasising cancer cells have been reflected in the result, for
example?

I ask because during my mother's follow-up treatment (she had classic open
lymph biopsy complications like fluid filling up in the wound (she had to
wear a stoma for a few weeks) and infections), her GP found a suspicious
lump on her skin, and worryingly, it is on the left side of her tummy
(below naval level), not far from the lymph node site. My mother said it
appeared last year, and has perhaps darkened a little, but she didn't
think anything of it. (Yes, I'm rolling my eyes at that too.)

Anyway, she's being referred to a dermatologist (I'm pushing the hospital
for a priority appointment) but according to them, her GP apparently isn't
overly concerned.

Should we be concerned that a suspicious lump so close to the lymph site
has been found? Could it be in any way connected to the swollen lymph,
even though the results came back OK?

Thanks in advance for any help on this issue. =)
--
Walker Moore

It is extremely unlikely that any kind of cancer would have been missed in
the lymph node biopsy. You are worrying excessively, as even if the skin
thing is a skin cancer, very few are not curable by simple excision.

PM

PM (surgeon)


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