@article {LUKESOVA6641, author = {LUCIE LUKESOVA and DAVID VRANA and IVAN SVACH and NORA ZLAMALOVA and JIRI GATEK and ZUZANA VLACHOV{\'A} and MARCEL MATZENAUER and PAVEL KORANDA and KLARA HRUZOVA and TOMAS TICHY and BOHUSLAV MELICHAR}, title = {Prognostic Influence of Internal Mammary Node Drainage in Patients with Early-stage Breast Cancer}, volume = {36}, number = {12}, pages = {6641--6646}, year = {2016}, publisher = {International Institute of Anticancer Research}, abstract = {Background: The management of internal mammary nodes (IMNs) during multidisciplinary treatment of breast cancer has been debated for the last four decades without unequivocal conclusion. Patients and Methods: We retrospectively reviewed patients with breast cancer who underwent sentinel lymph node biopsy at our center from 2008 until 2012. IMN drainage was assessed as a potential risk factor for local and distant disease recurrence. Results: We identified 712 patients, with incidence of drainage to IMNs of 18.4\%. No detrimental effect of the pattern of drainage to IMNs was found after a median follow-up of 58 months. A similar outcome was observed when drainage to IMNs was evaluated as a risk factor for patient survival. The potential risk factors for drainage to IMNs during sentinel lymph node biopsy were younger age (p=0.002) and tumor location in lower-outer, lower-inner, and upper-inner versus upper-outer quadrant (p\<0.0001). Conclusion: The drainage to IMNs is unlikely to have a detrimental effect on patient outcome.}, issn = {0250-7005}, URL = {https://ar.iiarjournals.org/content/36/12/6641}, eprint = {https://ar.iiarjournals.org/content/36/12/6641.full.pdf}, journal = {Anticancer Research} }