Back to Search
Start Over
Axillary Staging in Breast Cancer Patients with Exclusive Lymphoscintigraphic Drainage to the Internal Mammary Chain
- Source :
- World Journal of Surgery
- Publication Year :
- 2010
- Publisher :
- Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2010.
-
Abstract
- Background The aim of this study was to evaluate the need of axillary staging in breast cancer patients showing exclusive lymphatic drainage to the internal mammary chain (IMC). Methods A total of 2203 patients treated for breast carcinoma in three participating hospitals between July 2001 and July 2008 were analyzed. Only patients showing drainage to the IMC on preoperative lymphoscintigraphy were included. The number of harvested IMC sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs), axillary SLNs, and metastases were recorded. Finally, the follow-up of this group of patients was analyzed. Results In 25/426 patients, drainage was exclusively to the IMC. Exploration of the axilla resulted in the harvesting of blue SLNs in 9 patients (36%) and the retrieval of an enlarged lymph node in 1 patient. In 4 of the remaining 15 patients, an axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) was done. Lymph node metastases were found in 3 patients who had blue axillary SLNs and in 1 patient who underwent ALND. In the 11 patients who had no blue SLNs and no ALND, no axillary recurrences were observed during follow-up (median = 26 months). Conclusions Proper staging of the axilla remains crucial in patients showing exclusive drainage to the IMC. When no axillary node can be retrieved, ALND remains subject to discussion.
- Subjects :
- medicine.medical_specialty
education
Sentinel lymph node
Mammary gland
Breast Neoplasms
Article
Breast cancer
Humans
Medicine
Radionuclide Imaging
Technetium Tc 99m Aggregated Albumin
Internal Mammary Lymph Node
Aged
Neoplasm Staging
Retrospective Studies
Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy
business.industry
Axillary Lymph Node Dissection
Cancer
Middle Aged
medicine.disease
Surgery
body regions
Axilla
medicine.anatomical_structure
Lymphatic Metastasis
Female
Breast disease
Radiology
Radiopharmaceuticals
business
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 14322323 and 03642313
- Volume :
- 35
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- World Journal of Surgery
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....fcf6c04ca1ba35705872594e15e84737