The Colon Club

Hi I am new to the board. My mom had colon surgery 3 weeks ago laparoscopic. The pathology cane back stage 2 t3. I only took out six lymph nodes. And I'll follow up with the surgeon he said the reason he didn't take more is because there were none there.? He said he would usually take 20 but there were none there and that he thinks it's because my mom had chemo before for her lomg cancer. Now we saw an oncologist who is just as confused. And is not sure of the stage. Has anyone heard of this before? We are in a great hospital with an amazing surgeon but it just seems so strange to me.

Bunriv wrote:. The pathology cane back stage 2 t3. I only took out six lymph nodes. .

Hi and welcome,

That is unusual. Maybe if nothing else, lite chemo (5FU) for a few months to be on the safe side.

Maybe a 2nd opinion also to see if everyone is on the same page.

Good luck,

Lee

I was diagnosed with stage 3A colon cancer in the spring of 2012. I had one positive node, out of 4 nodes that had been removed. The surgeon said he didn't see any other nodes. I was 54 and otherwise healthy. As far as I know, I'm still cancer free.

Hi Bunriv,
When we got hubby's surgery report and I saw that 'only' 9 lymp nodes had been resected.. I wondered why? I had heard/read "at least 12" !
Then I read " Many factors affect the number of lymph nodes examined, including extent of surgical resection, patient age, tumor location, and pathology techniques. ".
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/26 ... 0IV%20mCRC
I knew that the Surgeon was Good!! and it was in a cancer specialist hospital. The report also said that my DH's Colon was "very short"! So I have decided that everything that should be taken out was taken out and that not all people are the same.