Can a biopsy on a swollen cancerous lymph node tell if it is caused by a different cancer which has spread to the lymph node rather than it being a lymphoma?? And can it tell where exactly that cancer has spread from? Thank you
I see from another post that you are waiting for the results of a biopsy. I appreciate this is an unsettling situation to be in.
Tissue biopsies are examined by pathologists and pathology is a medical specialty. My understanding is that pathologists can spot the difference between lymphoma cells and other types of cancer. Other types of cancer might be a bit less clear cut to identify. This is because cancers can start in similar sorts of cells that are found in a number of different places. So depending on how much the cancer cell has changed from its original state, it might not always be so easy to pinpoint where it came from.
Pathology like much of medicine can be quite complicated and sometimes tissue samples are sent away to a specialist pathology service to be examined again. There isn't really much you can do but wait it out when this happens, but the 'not knowing' is inevitably stressful. It is incredibly challenging to be patient in these sorts of circumstances but try and keep an open mind for now and do things that work for you to keep your mind off what is going on.
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