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Need help interpreting pathology

Forums General Melanoma Community Need help interpreting pathology

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    mandamanda123
    Participant
      Following a stage 3 diagnosis, a complete lymph node dissection was performed with the following final diagnosis: “Twenty-one reactive lymph nodes with melanin containing histiocytes. Changes of previous bipsy site with melanin containing histiocytes.”

      The surgeon who read the report told us that this was terrific news, and that there was no evidence of melanoma in these 21 lymph nodes or other tissue, but he said that we should discuss the pathology further with a medical oncologist. We have an appointment next week, and before announcing the good news to everyone, I want to try to understand why the lymph nodes were reactive if they weree cancer-free, and why the histiocytes were mentioned.

      If anyone has any insight into this pathology, we would greatly appreciate it. Our next step is to enroll in the ipi/interferon clinical trial, no matter what these results show. Thank you so much.

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