Lymph node-excision

     Cancer cells that leave the primary tumor tend to travel through blood vessels and lymphatics. Therefore they accumulate in neighbouring lymph nodes. In order to know if cancerous cells propagated to neighbouring lymph nodes, a lymph node excision can be done. It is a surgical operation that consists on removing some of the lymph nodes to see if they are affected by cancerous cells.

     Lymph from the prostate region travel through the ilio obturator lymph nodes. The lymph nodes excision can be done by iteself or during the operation to remove the prostate (prostatectomy) One or more incisions can be done in the lower abdomen, in order to remove lymph nodes. The removal can also be done through coelioscopy.

     n certain cases, the nodes can be observed under the microscope while the patient is still asleep. (frozen section) This allows to see if the nodes contain cancerous cells or not. If cancerous cells are found within the lymp nodes, it means that the cancer has spreads beyond the prostate. Removing the prostate will not be enough anymore to treat the cancer. This is why the surgeon can start by sampling lymph nodes to examin them immediately, before deciding to remove the prostate. He can then remove the prostate if the lymph nodes are not affected.