The effect of an old surgical scar on sentinel node mapping in patients with breast cancer: a report of five cases.

AIMS: To study the significance of lymphatic drainage disruption due to a surgical scar in sentinel node mapping (SNM) in breast cancer patients.

METHODS

We reviewed patients with stage I breast cancer who had undergone SNM and had an old surgical scar in the ipsilateral breast.

RESULTS

Of 534 breast cancer patients who had undergone SNM, five patients had an old scar in the ipsilateral breast. Inter-pectoral nodes, internal nodes, intramammary nodes, and contralateral axillary nodes were identified as sentinel nodes in three cases. In the remaining two cases, no sentinel lymph nodes were identified.

CONCLUSIONS

An old surgical scar in the breast may cause lymphatic drainage disruption, resulting in abnormal radioactive colloid uptake during SNM.