Its true they can't be sure the cancer is gone unles they do a neck dissection and look at the pathology report--there's a 30% chance of having cancer cells that wo't show up on a scan. Like Amy's husband, I had mine done during the surgery to remove the tumor and it was a modified neck dissection and it was really not a big deal at all. I don't think Gail's analogy to a radical mastectomy is really appropriate here. It is a much less defiguring and much more esay-to-recover-from surgery.

Also, it seems to me that removing lymph nodes if they are cancerous HAS to improve your chances over leaving them there to possibly metasticize.

Nelie