Removing the lympth glands

[MikiBill]

My wife was diagnosed with ovarian cnacer and had a full hysterectomy. She started chemo last week and will be doing one course a month for 6 months. The doctor has said he then wants to remove the lympth glands in the area. Is this usual? Can it be safely avoided?

[SimplyStar]

The lymph nodes are the filters of the lymph system,  the blood flow through them, and the cells they contain, upon removal and pathology reports,  can show the route taken by the cancer.  If cancer cells are found in one , that shows the cancer has gone past that one. 31 were removed in my daughters debulking and cancer was found in 3 of them. Since the nodes are the filters of the blood vessels, they have determined that all cancers begin in the lymphatic system.  Removal of the lymph glands decreases the immune systems ability to fight infections. That is why the nodes become swollen when you have an infection.  The White cells gather there to fight off the bacteria invaders.

[PF_PVD]

I also had a total abdominal hysterectomy, removal of both cervix, both tubes and ovaries, my omentum and any visible disease after three rounds of chemo.  Path story was cancer, cancer, everywhere (iv/3).  The gyn/onc didn't remove a single lymph node and when I asked him why not he said something like, "well, I couldn't remove them all."  Kind of scary/weird looking back now.  I guess I was thinking the chemo rounds following surgery were to take care of them, but I just realized I need to ask him about this further when I see him next week. I feel like such a novice.

[rmarie]

The surgery I had was a total abdominal hysterectomy, removal of both tubes and ovaries and pelvic lymph nodes in a prcedure called a debulking.  When they do the debulking they remove a number of lymph nodes for biopsy and they remove the omenteum, which is a lymph node and blood vessel rich apron that hangs over the intestines.  They do biopsies of tissues and lymph nodes of the lymph nodes along the aorta also biopsy the diaphragm, following the usual areas of spread.

Sometimes because of the amount of tumor and it's location, they cannot do that with the initial surgery so they go back in, and do it after chemo.  I think they were doing this at Roswell Park in Buffalo
I did read about doing total lymectomies to prevent ovarian cancer mets, however I do not know how successful it was.  Which was suggested for you wife?  It would be easier to answer your question with more information.

[Helmar]

Hello....I have a cancerous lymph node on the left side of the pelvic area. My Surgeon refuses to operate because the node is positioned very close to the main artery. He feels if something went wrong, I wouldn't need to worry about chemo, cancer or anything else....it would be 'goodnight Irene'.... so my Oncol. is treating it with chemo. The cancer is isolated to this one node, and the chemo is keeping it under control.  The way my Surgeon put the idea of operating sounded too risky for me.
I hope all goes well for  your wife... Hugs..Helen...

[Kimchi]

Wondering the same thing...Had hysterectomy a year ago, been on chemo since...Had second opinion last month and was told that I should have had my lumphnides in groin area removed during the hyster...New doctor said if cancer reoccurs, I should have them removed...my understanding is that this will minimize chances of cancer spreading.

[SimplyStar]

My daughters were removed at the time of her debulking surgery.  A person can live normally without lymph glands and they do get mets in them very often.  Good Luck to you and your wife.