A client scheduled to undergo a lymph node biopsy asks, "If lymph nodes are so prone to cancer, why don't they just take them all out?" How should the nurse respond?
Standard Text: Select all that apply.
1. "Lymph nodes filter out all kinds of debris and are essential to our good health."
2. "The surgeon will probably take out a majority of the nodes in the region where the biopsy will be done."
3. "The cells that are in the lymph nodes actually help protect us from cancer."
4. "The lymph nodes make up one of our best defenses against infection."
5. "They usually do take out all the lymph nodes if the client has lymphoma."
Correct Answer: 1,3,4
Rationale 1: An efficient lymph system, including lymph nodes, is essential to good health.
Rationale 2: There is no indication that taking out the majority of lymph nodes in a body region is necessary or possible.
Rationale 3: The macrophages and lymphocytes in the lymph nodes kill, neutralize, or remove pathogens and cancer cells.
Rationale 4: The lymph system is a major contributor to defense against infection.
Rationale 5: It is not possible or desirable to remove all of a client's lymph nodes.
Global Rationale: Lymph nodes are solid, spherical bodies that are packed with macrophages and lymphocytes, which are cells specialized to recognize anything that is "non-self" or foreign to the body. Recognition of these foreign agents activates the immune response, which neutralizes or removes the pathogens before they can reach the general circulation and which is essential to good health. Each lymph node serves as a mini-filter, removing up to 99% of the foreign agents entering the node. Should a pathogen be clever enough to escape surveillance in a lymph node, it is then faced with passing through dozens, and sometimes hundreds, more lymph nodes in the lymphatic system. There is no indication that taking out the majority of lymph nodes in a body region is necessary or possible.
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