PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - LUCIE LUKESOVA
AU  - DAVID VRANA
AU  - IVAN SVACH
AU  - NORA ZLAMALOVA
AU  - JIRI GATEK
AU  - ZUZANA VLACHOVÁ
AU  - MARCEL MATZENAUER
AU  - PAVEL KORANDA
AU  - KLARA HRUZOVA
AU  - TOMAS TICHY
AU  - BOHUSLAV MELICHAR
TI  - Prognostic Influence of Internal Mammary Node Drainage in Patients with Early-stage Breast Cancer
DP  - 2016 Dec 01
TA  - Anticancer Research
PG  - 6641--6646
VI  - 36
IP  - 12
4099  - http://ar.iiarjournals.org/content/36/12/6641.short
4100  - http://ar.iiarjournals.org/content/36/12/6641.full
SO  - Anticancer Res2016 Dec 01; 36
AB  - 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.