Premium
Lymph Nodes and Cancer Treatment.
Author(s) -
Read William Lewis
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.22.1_supplement.388.4
Subject(s) - medicine , lymph , lymphoma , lymph node , solid tumor , stage (stratigraphy) , radiation therapy , disease , metastasis , cancer , radiology , oncology , pathology , paleontology , biology
The extent of regional lymph node involvement is a critical variable in the staging of all adult solid tumors. The TNM (Tumor, Node, Metastasis) staging system assigns N stage based on the careful evaluation of regional nodes. We will discuss how lymph nodes are evaluated for several different common solid tumors, and discuss how technological advances are minimizing the morbidity of this evaluation. In patients who present with involved lymph nodes, treatment for cure necessitates not only treatment of the local tumor but also treatment aimed at eradicating regional disease. Surgery, radiation or both can be used for this purpose, and we will discuss how these decisions are made and how newer treatments can improve regional disease control and survival. Lymph node involvement on diagnosis portends a greater risk of developing distant metastatic disease, and we will discuss cases in which the presence or absence of nodal involvement is the key factor in deciding whether systemic adjuvant chemotherapy will increase the chance for cure. Lymphoma is different from solid tumors in that it primarily affects lymph nodes as is often without a dominant primary tumor. We will discuss the diagnosis, staging and treatment of lymphoma and how this differs from that of common solid tumors. We will also discuss solid tumors that do not involve lymph nodes and how this affects staging and treatment.