MedDRA preferred term

Metastases to lymph nodes: adverse event reports recording this term

6,606 reports to FDA record it, 2004–2026; 0% of the database.

Read first · FDA's statement on these data

Adverse event reports submitted to FDA do not undergo extensive validation or verification. Therefore, a causal relationship cannot be established between product and reactions listed in a report. While a suspected relationship may exist, it is not medically validated and should not be the sole source of information for clinical decision making or other assumptions about the safety or efficacy of a product. Additionally, it is important to remember that adverse event reports represent a small percentage of total usage numbers of a product. Common products may have a higher number of adverse events due to the higher total number of people using the product. openFDA, FDA

FDA adds: "There is no certainty that the reported event (adverse event or medication error) was actually due to the product. FDA does not require that a causal relationship between a product and event be proven, and reports do not always contain enough detail to properly evaluate an event." The information in these reports "cannot be used to estimate the incidence of these events."

Do not rely on openFDA to make decisions regarding medical care. While we make every effort to ensure that data is accurate, you should assume all results are unvalidated.

Not medical advice. This site counts what was reported to FDA. Questions about a medicine or device belong with a pharmacist or clinician.

6,606
reports recording the term: 0% of all reports; 496
reports, 12 months to June 2026: 533 in the 12 months before; 99.2%
marked serious by the reporter: 57.4% across all reports; 21%
record death among outcomes, as reported: 9.1% across all reports

"Metastases to lymph nodes" is a MedDRA preferred term recorded in 6,606 adverse event reports received by FDA, 0% of the database, from January 2004 to June 2026. The term is chosen by whoever codes the report to match what the reporter described.

496 reports recorded it in the 12 months to June 2026, close to the 533 of the 12 months before. FDA releases FAERS data quarterly, so the newest months are incomplete and grow in later releases. Of reports recording this term, 99.2% are marked serious, 21% include death among the outcomes and 30.2% include hospitalisation, as reported.

The drugs listed most often as suspect products in those reports are Docetaxel, Letrozole and Paclitaxel. That order mostly follows how many reports each drug has overall; the table also gives the term's share within each drug's own reports. FDA states that "a causal relationship cannot be established between product and reactions listed in a report" and that for any given report "there is no certainty that a suspected drug caused the event."

Reports by month, five years

FDA releases FAERS data quarterly, so the newest months are incomplete and grow in later releases.

Drugs listed as suspect products in these reports

Drug	Class	Reports with this term	Share of the drug's own reports
Docetaxel	Microtubule inhibitor	410	0.7%
Letrozole	Aromatase inhibitor	380	1.4%
Paclitaxel	Microtubule inhibitor	322	0.5%
Capecitabine	Nucleoside metabolic inhibitor	290	0.6%
Trastuzumab	HER2/neu receptor antagonist	275	1%
Fulvestrant	Estrogen receptor antagonist	263	2.2%
Carboplatin	Platinum-based drug	252	0.2%
Cyclophosphamide	Alkylating drug	249	0.2%
Tamoxifen	—	206	2.6%
Cisplatin	Platinum-based drug	178	0.3%
Fluorouracil	Nucleoside metabolic inhibitor	175	0.3%
Everolimus	Kinase inhibitor	162	1.2%
Ribociclib	Kinase inhibitor	162	2.6%
Xeloda	Nucleoside metabolic inhibitor	159	0.5%
Zometa	—	157	0.7%
Januvia	Dipeptidyl peptidase 4 inhibitor	154	0.5%
Kisqali	Kinase inhibitor	153	0.6%
Anastrozole	Aromatase inhibitor	145	1.4%
Denosumab	RANK ligand inhibitor	143	1.7%
Herceptin	HER2/neu receptor antagonist	141	0.5%
Oxaliplatin	Platinum-based drug	141	0.2%
Exemestane	Aromatase inhibitor	139	2%
Faslodex	Estrogen receptor antagonist	138	1.6%
Zoledronic acid	Bisphosphonate	138	0.8%
Doxorubicin	Anthracycline topoisomerase inhibitor	137	0.3%

Drugs with a page on this site, ordered by the number of their reports recording this term. The last column is the term's share within that drug's own reports, against 0% across the whole database. FDA states that adverse event reports "represent a small percentage of total usage numbers of a product", that "common products may have a higher number of adverse events due to the higher total number of people using the product", and that the data "by themselves are not an indicator of the safety profile of the drug or biologic."

By pharmacologic class

Class	Reports with this term	Share of class reports	Median drug in class
Kinase inhibitor	1,650	0.2%	0%
Nucleoside metabolic inhibitor	817	0.3%	0%
Aromatase inhibitor	811	1.2%	1.2%
Microtubule inhibitor	746	0.5%	0.3%
HER2/neu receptor antagonist	609	0.7%	0.5%
Platinum-based drug	571	0.2%	0.2%
Estrogen receptor antagonist	403	1.5%	1.6%
Alkylating drug	388	0.2%	0%
Corticosteroid	266	0%	0%
RANK ligand inhibitor	261	0.2%	0.5%

Classes ordered by count. Class shares follow the class's overall report volume as much as anything else.

Patients in these reports

Patient age

Under 20%2

2 to 110.3%19

12 to 170.8%50

18 to 449.9%656

45 to 6432.1%2,119

65 to 7417.4%1,151

75 and over9.7%640

Age not given29.8%1,969

Patient sex

Female52.9%3,494

Male38.5%2,545

Not given8.6%567

Grey bar: all 20,646,523 reports in the database. 27.5% of these reports give the United States as the country.

Questions about "Metastases to lymph nodes"

What does "Metastases to lymph nodes" mean in an adverse event report?

It is a MedDRA preferred term, the dictionary FDA uses to code what a reporter described. The report's own description is not published by openFDA and is not shown here.

How many reports record metastases to lymph nodes?

6,606 reports through June 2026 (0% of all reports), 496 of them in the latest 12 months.

Which drugs appear most often in these reports?

Docetaxel (410), Letrozole (380), Paclitaxel (322), Capecitabine (290) and Trastuzumab (275). Drugs with many reports overall lead almost every term's list. FDA states that adverse event reports "represent a small percentage of total usage numbers of a product", that "common products may have a higher number of adverse events due to the higher total number of people using the product", and that the data "by themselves are not an indicator of the safety profile of the drug or biologic."

Does a drug appearing here mean it was responsible for this reaction?

No. FDA states that "a causal relationship cannot be established between product and reactions listed in a report" and that for any given report "there is no certainty that a suspected drug caused the event."

I have this symptom. What should I do?

This site cannot assess anyone. A pharmacist or clinician can; for an emergency, call the local emergency number. Nothing on this page is medical advice.

Where this comes from. Counts are built from the openFDA Drug Adverse Event (FAERS) bulk export released 28 Sep 2026, which holds reports FDA received through 30 Jun 2026. Drug names are as reported, resolved to the brand or generic name on the FDA label where openFDA's harmonisation matched them; classes are the pharmacologic class (EPC) from the label and the National Drug Code Directory of 17 Sep 2026. Terms are pooled across spelling and capitalisation variants of one MedDRA preferred term. No report narrative, lot number, patient detail or reporter identity is published. See the methodology and sources; FDA's record is authoritative, and corrections are handled within five working days.

Drug data (FAERS) through 30 Jun 2026; device data (MAUDE) through 31 Aug 2026. Not medical advice.