My wife had her surgery to remove a tumor (SC) from her gum. They took 3 teeth and 10 mm of bone. The pathology report came back saying there was no bone invasion and clean margins around the tumor. It was listed stage 1 - t1nx.

There was a presence of "cancerous lymphocytes" in the tumor. The doctor now recommends going back in and taking some tissue from the neck. He said they will then do radiation only if there is problems in the lymph nodes.

Can someone tell me what this means? I'm not sure if this is good or bad. The nurse seemed to think it was a really good pathology report. Where do these lymphocytes come from and what should we expect? Is this common> Indicative of a bigger problem? Easily fixed?

Thanks for any help.