If your mother's lump is on one or other side of her neck then it could well be due to an enlarged lymph node (lymph gland), and if is on the front of her neck then it might be due to a swelling in her thyroid gland. Swollen lymph glands in the neck and thyroid lumps have many different causes. Although most of these turn out not to be cancers and are completely benign and safe it is important that if there is cancer it is diagnosed and treated as soon as possible. The fact that the lump is painless does not mean it is nothing to worry about, as most cancerous lumps cause little or no discomfort. So if the lump in your mother's beck does not go back to normal within a week or two it is something she should not ignore and just hope will get better on its own - she should go and see her family doctor (GP).

The Department of Health has recently given guidelines to general practitioners about people who come to them with a lump in the neck. These say that they should arrange either arrange an immediate an urgent appointment with a specialist for anyone who comes with a lump in the neck that has been there more three weeks.

An urgent hospital appointment usually means that the specialist will see your mother within two weeks.

When the specialist sees your mother he or she will take a full medical history and carry out a careful physical examination. The specialist will probably do other tests including blood tests and a chest x-ray. Depending on what the doctor discovers there are then likely to be some more specialised tests, which may take a week or two to complete, before they can finally make a diagnosis.

If these tests do show that the lump is due to a cancer then further treatment might involve an operation to take it away or it may mean some radiotherapy or chemotherapy, depending on the exact type of the cancer and its size.

Cancers which cause swellings in the neck are often very curable, especially if it they are caught early, so if your mother's lump has been there more than a week or two tell her not to delay and go and see her doctor right away.