Hi all,

I want to make this post as brief as possible, so here goes:

--Neck mass, inconclusive scope (no tumor visible).
--Went in for neck mass exision (biopsy inconclusive).
--Came out with removed lymph node (3 cm), tonsil removed, salivary gland removed, neck nodes and tissue removed. Neck dissection.
--Tonsil was primary, very small tumor (T1).
--No other nodes involved, no extracapsular spread.
--I was staged Stage II.

I still have to talk to the doctors this Wednesday about treatment. However, my ent said they will recommend surgery and chemo.

I'm confused about the staging, as a neck node automatically puts you Stage III? Is this the case, or are there gray areas in the staging? Any experience here will be appreciated.

I'm concerned about the followup treatments...is it a general consensus that radiation and chemo be recommended for all neck metastases (even in my case if it is Stage II)?

From reading info on this site, it appears that all cases are different, but treatments appear to follow a general protocol.

Thanks in advance,

Oscar

staging has more to do with the size of the tumour,and is fully explained on the main web site.

liz

Oscar,
My husband is only being treated with radiation. He had a 3.5cm lymph node removed from his neck which was secondary site. Primary was a small tumor at base of tongue. Tumor was not removed. We had 2nd opinion with head & neck specialist at Rush Medical. Specialist said no chemo was necessary. Keith is doing 35 rad tx and had 17 on Friday. He is really feeling bad; had PEG put in on Monday. I think each case is different. Ask lots of questions and get 2nd opinions.
Good luck to you,
Cat

My tonsil tumor was 2cm, removed without clear margins. They told me it was stage II, bacause of the size of the tumor. I believe it was written T2N0M0.I required full neck radiation and chemo. I am confused about staging as well.

Here, from the main part of the OCF website, is an explanation of the way these cancers can be staged. It includes to a link to an article published in 2005 in the journal CA about revisions in the staging protocols for head and neck cancers.

According to the National Cancer Institute , there is not a direct correlation between TMN staging and the Stage I-IV system (the NCI notes that, for example, a tumor described as T3N0M0 is stage III in bladder cancer but stage II in colon cancer).

-- Leslie

In follow up with what Leslie said, it is important to distinguish between the Stage of the Tumor (the T part of TMN) and the overall stage of the disease. In my case the tumor was only just 2 cm, making it a T2 tumor. However, because I had 2 positive lymph nodes (1 enlarged to about 2.5 cm, 1 not enlarged), my disease was Stage IVa. It can be very confusing, and very scary, as all of Stage IV tends to be lumped together in a lot of studies, and there can be material differences.