Latest research finds breast-cancer lymph node removal unnecessary

Although things may look a lot different when you enter a hospital, women are still being subjected to treatments that were introduced over 100 years ago!

The shocking fact is that, where breast cancer surgery is concerned, some procedures are pretty much the same as they were when FDR was born… the Statue of Liberty was unveiled in New York harbor… and ATT was first incorporated.

That’s when the radical mastectomy, which included the barbaric surgical procedure of lymph node removal, was developed.

But despite new evidence that’s been accumulating, including some brand-new findings, many doctors are still fighting tooth and nail to keep things exactly as they are – and make sure nearly every woman with metastatic breast cancer gets it.

That’s why it’s urgent for you and any women in your life to know how much we’ve learned during the last century — whether mainstream docs realize it or not.

‘A victory for common sense’A few months ago, I told you about a study that was called a “game-changer” for patients with melanoma.

Doctors at The Angeles Clinic and Research Institute discovered something that should transform how melanoma patients are treated by showing that extreme lymph node removal isn’t necessary.

That’s typically always done when the “sentinel” node shows signs of cancer. And, as I said, it’s a very big deal. That procedure can harden your skin and cause fluid retention in your arms and legs, along with infections, discomfort, and pain.

But it was thought to be a lifesaver, so patients had to toughen up and bear it.

That melanoma research, however, discovered that this painful procedure wasn’t extending lives at all. It sounded like it should, but in actual practice, that wasn’t the case!

Now, researchers have found the same thing applies when treating breast cancer.

The “general consensus” was that lymph node removal under the arms, called “axillary dissection,” was absolutely necessary to keep breast cancer from spreading when cancer was detected in sentinel lymph nodes.

That procedure, which HSI panel member Dr. Allan Spreen calls a “horror,” can not only “cause horrendous scarring,” he says, but also badly disrupts the lymph flow, “leaving the arm on that side swollen (permanently), stiff and painful.”

And yet it’s been one of those long-accepted medical procedures that never really had any solid research behind it.

That is, until now – the American College of Surgeons Oncology Group findings certainly don’t give us any reason to continue subjecting ourselves to this outdated torturous procedure.

What came out of their big, 10-year clinical trial is that in women with invasive breast cancer, the practice of removing underarm lymph nodes has no apparent life-extending benefits.

The researchers noted that because of this study, 446 women (trial participants) who would have otherwise had full axillary dissection (which can involve removal of between five and 30 lymph nodes) have been spared the pain and disfigurement of that surgery.

Plus that, they “did not have their survival compromised.”

A story in Medscape called the study “a victory for common sense.” Despite all the problems that accompany this procedure, however, many doctors will still insist that it’s absolutely necessary to keep breast cancer from turning lethal.

But that’s really par for the course.

Over seven years ago, similar findings were presented by Dr. Armando Giuliano, director of the John Wayne Cancer Institute Breast Center in Santa Monica, who noted that since doctors have “always done” this procedure, “it’s hard to abandon it.”

Dr. Giuliano also remarked that the whole idea of leaving these lymph nodes in place is “counterintuitive and hard to accept,” since it means not removing all of the cancer.

But regardless of how strange it may seem, the science is now telling us that women are being put through the wringer for no good reason at all.

So if you or someone you love is facing breast cancer surgery that will include axillary dissection, it’s vital to not just accept the status quo… but to discuss these findings with your doctor before agreeing to have it done.

And if your surgeon won’t have a real sit-down talk with you about this, it may be time to get another opinion.