Herson,

From what I've seen here, there certainly do seem to be variations in the protocols for Stage II, often based on the results of pathology reports post-surgery. Although my margins were clean and there was no evidence of node involvement, the tumor itself was poorly differentiated, which means the tumor cells showed abnormalities that could cause them to grow more aggressively. (By contrast, we've had members here with well-differentiated Stage II tumors whose doctors did not recommend radiation.) I believe the "poorly differentiated" classification was a key factor that my doctors looked to in telling me I should have radiation. Since they didn't have that information until after the surgery, they couldn't give me a definitive answer on radiation prior to that. This may well be the case with your mother also.

Cathy

And just as another example of that, I was stage II with perineural invasion (which means the tumor was growing along a nerve). Because there is some research showing that perineral invasion is a significant predictor of recurrences, that was a key factor in getting a recommendation for radiation and for chemo (although everyone agreed the chemo was an aggrissive treatment for my stage and I felt that part was really my choice). Perineural invasion was also something that couldn't be determined until after the surgery was done, so, like Cathy, I didn't get a definitive answer about radiation until after my surgery.

Nelie