[Rich66]

The reality is there is an accepted level of "false negative" in nodal biopsy...just as there is in other diagnostics.
I wish people in the field were always honest about the state of things. It just might help people make truly informed decisions. Both of my parents have advanced cancer and were both previously told they had no worries..even telling my mom she had "a cured cancer".
Regarding when stage IV is found, I can't believe it makes no difference in a number of cases. Especially since treatment does demonstrably prolong survival in many cases. If you find it too late, you may be physically compromised to the point of not being a candidate for many treatments. It would seem plausible that the current stats don't factor in unstudied combinations of current treatments or ones being developed that could change someone's chances if they slow things down at an earlier stage now. In other words, statements like that are inherently rear-view. I personally hope that development of treatments that address the alleged cancer stem cell will be a paradigm shift from chemos that may just be aggravating things in the long run. Likewise with Leukocyte infusion therapy with the 100% cure rate in mice. Yes, I know "we're not mice" but..I imagine most of our "successful" treatments were first demostrated "in vivo" in mice..and probably with a lot lower success rate.