Why Lymph Nodes Are a Magnet for Breast Cancer

You may need to have your lymph nodes biopsied or removed.

(RICK GOMEZ/RADIUS/MASTERFILE)

Lymph nodes are small glands that act as a filtering system for the body; the nodes in your armpit can become a magnet for breast cancer on the move. "What I tell patients is that there are two parts to breast cancer surgery—the first part is the operation on the breast itself, whether the lumpectomy or mastectomy, and the second part has to do with the lymph nodes, which is the first place cancer cells tend to go when they leave the breast," says Monica Morrow, MD, chief of the Breast Service in the Department of Surgery at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.

If you have breast cancer, here's what you need to know about your lymph nodes.

• If you're "node negative" (meaning no lymph nodes show cancer cells), that automatically cuts the seriousness of your diagnosis and puts you in stage I.
• Being "node positive" means the cancer may have spread. The more nodes involved, the more serious things get.

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