Sandy,
regarding nodes under a cm not being considered for Oropharynx SCC staging; I haven't heard that before, but I read something similar for lymphoma.

There is what I thought to be pretty good staging section in the NCCN guidelines although it doesn't mention the "less than a cm" issue for Oropharynx SCC - but, I know there is a whole book on staging.

As I said, I also haven't heard the term re-staging used before.


Don
TXN2bM0 Stage IVa SCC-Occult Primary
FNA 6/6/08-SCC in node<2cm
PET/CT 6/19/08-SCC in 2nd node<1cm
HiRes CT 6/21/08
Exploratory,Tonsillectomy(benign),Right SND 6/23/08
PEG 7/3/08-11/6/08
35 TomoTherapy 7/16/08-9/04/08 No Chemo
Clear PET/CT 11/15/08, 5/15/09, 5/28/10, 7/8/11