September 21, 2010 Maria Cheng, AP (AP) Some breast cancer
patients may do just as well with a less invasive surgery to
remove selected lymph nodes rather than the aggressive operation
normally used to remove them all, a new study says. In the
biggest trial yet to compare the two procedures, North American
researchers found early breast cancer patients don't need the
more interventionist surgery to live longer. Most patients with
such cancer have surgery to remove the disease. Doctors
sometimes decide to get rid of all the lymph nodes to better
control the cancer because if the disease spreads, it usually
goes first to the nearby lymph nodes. Experts also think there
is a relationship between the number of lymph nodes affected and
how aggressive a cancer is. But the invasive operation, an
axillary-lymph node dissection, often comes with nasty side
effects like nerve damage and reduced use of the arms and
shoulders. Doctors can use another surgery to remove only the
first set of lymph nodes, or the sentinel ly