Please do a search on these message boards using the words occult mets or just the word occult. It is documented that at least 24% and maybe more of individuals with early stage cancers have mets to the nodes in the neck that cannot be detected by MRI or CT as they are very early in the process. You can gamble that you are one of the lucky 75% or you can have your doctors interface you with a radiology oncologist. Additional surgery to remove the nodes isn't the complete solution because the cancer can live in the fatty tissues surrounding them or even in the musculature or boney tissues of the area. I for one, a non doctor, have read and seen too many "recurrences' a misnomer at best since they are often these micro mets that were not picked up, in postings here, in patient visits to hospitals and discussed at symposiums I have been part of. I am not a proponent of surgical only solutions to oral cancers because of all this. Only in extremely early carcinomas "in situ" will you ever hear me say that surgery alone is a good thing. What ever you decide, you should at least have a consultation with a doctor oncologist who is not a surgeon but comes from another discipline like radiology. This cancer is very unforgiving the second time around, and you usually only get one chance to make a good decision. Ask lots of questions now, of as many doctors as possible. Be your own advocate, because no one else is fighting for you. You need to know as much as you might need, to make the best choice you can. Chance favors the prepared mind.

Brian, stage 4 oral cancer survivor. OCF Founder and Director. The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant.