Has anyone skipped surgery after chemotherapy cleared their cancer?

I had MRI after chemo that showed no cancer. Surgeon told me they don't know for sure if cancer is gone unless they do surgery. Pathology after surgery showed tumors gone but still have cancer cells in lymph vessels. Doing radiation.

Thank you for your reply. That is helpful. I was told the same thing. I just had my consult with the surgeon and I’ll go ahead with it so they can check if it’s really gone. I had just read some research that was making me wonder if it’s really necessary.

https://ascopost.com/news/april-2025/is-surgery-necessary-to-treat-invasive-breast-cancer/

Seeing this after just having a bilateral goldilocks technique simple mastectomy is depressing. Is there a way to filter stuff like this out?

This is such an important question that many people face after a positive response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Treatment decisions like this are deeply personal and depend on many individual factors that only your medical team can fully evaluate. Consider discussing the pros and cons of different approaches with your oncologist, and don't hesitate to seek a second opinion if it would help you feel more confident in your decision.