No offense taken . We are just trying to get the best information out possible. I suspect I should have said (never thought someone would relate the comment to something other than oral cancer on an oral cancer board) that in oral cancers, nodes are never the primary. In 12 years I have never read about one being so in any peer review journal, nor heard of one here at OCF, or on the many cancer programs I lecture on routinely. As to the lymphoma, respectfully, having been there personally and having my abdomen swell and be the site of the main early manifestations of it, I think I have some knowledge here that is valid.

Those here for the last decade have all discussed for years the value, or lack thereof of FNA's so we all know that they have a less than 100% accuracy rate. I said for people that had them with a positive finding....They miss things because of the random nature of the punctures, but positive findings when they occur in the aspirate and in subsequent histopathology, are not a shortcoming of FNA's and in that case they are accurate as a diagnostic procedure.

There is never any issue asking for further explanation of something or suggesting that something was misstated. The worst thing that can happen on these boards is for us to put out bad information that might hurt someone. SO as a final clarification - an enlarged neck node can be a sign of lymphoma, BUT NOT IF THE ASPIRATION TURNS UP SCC IN IT, which is what we are talking about here. The answer to live and loves question is correct, oral cancer doesn't start in a cervical node.