What Does it Mean If My Lymph Node Involvement Is Positive or Negative?

— -- Question: What does it mean if my lymph node involvement is positive or negative?

Answer: When we remove the lymph nodes as part of the surgical staging, if we see disease in the lymph nodes we call those lymph nodes positive, or positive for disease, positive for metastatic changes. If there's no evidence of tumor, we call that negative lymph nodes. Whether the lymph nodes are involved or not is important to your treating physicians to determine, number one -- what treatment plan will be implemented, and number two – to try to give you some idea of what your prognosis is overall.

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