[A new perspective on axillary dissection in situations of metastatic sentinel node]

INTRODUCTION

Breast cancer is the most common malignant disease in women and represents a worldwide problem. Up-to-date diagnostics methods, mammography screening and complex treatments have resulted in a substantial reduction of mortality rates. However, the incidence of the disease keeps growing constantly, although in a moderate way. The struggle against this disease has several levels, such as prevention, primary tumour therapy as well as the management of recurrent or generalized disease. Therefore, it is very significant to evaluate the prognosis on the basis of biological characteristics of the tumour and to determine the right individual therapy in each patient.

AIM OF THE STUDY

Our aim was to determine a group of patients with malignant breast disease based on biological characteristics of the tumour who can be treated without axillary exenteration even with a metastasis in the sentinel lymph node, thereby reducing the morbidity associated with this surgery, without worsening the prognosis.

METHOD

The research project lasted from June 2012 to June 2015. It was a prospective randomized study where the main investigated group consisted of women with primarily surgically treated mammary cancer undergoing sentinel lymph node biopsy (SNB) during their surgery. These patients were divided into three groups: group 1 - positive SNB without axillary exenteration (axillary dissection - AD); group 2 - positive SNB with AD; and group 3 - negative SNB. Group 4 consisted of patients with primarily performed AD. We investigated statistically significant prognostic factors of metastatic lymph nodes and early disease progression. The results were statistically processed and differences between individual groups were evaluated, determining prognostically usable biological characteristics of the tumour in connection with metastases in lymph nodes and progression-free survival.

RESULTS

The study included 214 patients with breast cancer. No metastases of axillary lymph nodes were found in 136 patients (64%); on the other hand, 78 patients (36%) had positive axillary lymph nodes and included: 28 (13%) patients with a micrometastasis in the sentinel lymph node; 38 (17%) patients with 13 positive lymph nodes; 8 (4%) patients with 49 positive lymph nodes; and 4 (2%) patients had more than 10 metastatic lymph nodes. A statistically significant difference with respect to metastatic lymph node involvement was found for the tumour size, expression of oestrogen receptors, proliferative activity and grading.

CONCLUSION

The following prognostic factors of metastatic lymph nodes and early disease progression were shown to be statistically significant: tumour size over 2 cm, negative expression of oestrogen receptors, tumours with moderate and high proliferative activity, and tumour grades G2 and G3. In the course of the three years of this study, no regional recurrence was found in axillary lymph nodes in any patient, and therefore, it clearly follows that the completion of axillary exenteration can be omitted in the case of tumour sizes below 2 cm, present expression of oestrogen receptors, low proliferative activity and grade 1 even if one or two positive sentinel lymph nodes are present, provided that adjuvant radiation therapy can be used. Also, axillary exenteration is not needed if a micrometastasis or isolated tumour cells are found in the sentinel lymph node.Key words: breast cancer - sentinel lymph node biopsy - axillary exenteration - prognostic factors.

[Avoidance of axillary lymph node dissection in breast cancer patients with metastatic sentinel node - a pilot study]

INTRODUCTION

Axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) is a standard procedure for locoregional control in metastatic sentinel lymph nodes (SN). A number of studies have provided evidence that avoiding ALND does not worsen the general prognosis.

METHODS

A group of 249 female patients with sentinel lymph node biopsy was analysed retrospectively for a 3-year period. The patients were divided into two groups - with non-metastatic SN and with metastatic SN. In the metastatic SN group, the patients were further divided into a group with ALND and a group without ALND, and additional lymph nodes (non-sentinel) in ALND and oncological treatment were evaluated. The goal was to find out whether ALND and oncological treatment affect the disease-free interval (DFI) and overall survival (OS) in the group of patients with metastatic SN and to compare the results with the control group. The histopathology and biology of the primary tumour, its size and the number of metastatic SN were subsequently evaluated as the factors that may be useful for predicting metastatic non-sentinel lymph node positivity.

RESULTS

There was a high risk of metastatic non-sentinel lymph nodes in the cases of metastatic SN (63%). Addition of ALND does not prolong either DFI or DFS without post-operative radiotherapy and systemic oncological treatment, both of which can provide a comparable length of DFI as well as DFS without ALND. Patients with metastatic SN with and without ALND had a DFI of 70 and 72 months, respectively, and a 5-year survival of 84% and 80%, respectively. Tumours over 2 cm, tumours with high proliferative activity and a high grade can be regarded as predictors of metastatic non-sentinel lymph nodes.

CONCLUSION

In a small patient group it has been demonstrated that the avoidance of ALND in 1 or 2 metastatic SN, regardless of the prognostic factors, does not affect either DFI or DFS if adjuvant oncological treatment is administered. High-grade tumours, tumours with high proliferative activity and tumours larger than 2 cm carry a significantly higher risk of metastatic non-sentinel lymph nodes. Nowadays, the avoidance of ALND in metastatic SN is not a lege artis procedure; further large studies are needed to create scientific guidelines.Key words: metastatic sentinel lymph node - avoidance of axillary dissection - breast cancer.

[Phyllodes breast tumors]

INTRODUCTION

Phyllodes tumour is a breast tumour occurring very rarely. It accounts for only in 1% of all cases of breast tumour. The diagnosis of phyllodes tumours can be difficult in consideration of the small number of cases. Treatment of phyllodes tumours is always surgical.

METHODS

In 2004-2013, we operated on twelve female patients with phyllodes tumours out of the total number of 1564 surgeries for breast tumours (0.8%) at the Department of Surgery at Teaching Hospital in Pilsen. We evaluated the age, the biological behaviour of the tumour depending on the tumour size and duration, the distant metastases, therapy and survival.

RESULTS

The average age at the time of surgery was fifty years (2684), the duration of disease to the surgical solution ranged from one month to ten years. Tumour size was in the range of two to twenty-nine centimetres, tumours measuring less than five centimetres were always benign. Tumour excision for benign phyllodes tumour was performed seven times. Malignant phyllodes tumour was diagnosed five times with mastectomy performed in each case, and the axilla was exenterated in three cases where nodes were benign in each of them. In one case, mastectomy was followed by radiotherapy because the tumour reached the edge of the resected part; the other patients were only monitored. In two patients, tumour spreading into the lungs was diagnosed at five to ten months after breast surgery. One patient with generalized disease died, the other ones live with no local recurrence of this disease. Median survival is fifty-two months; the disease-free interval is fifty months.

CONCLUSION

The results show that if phyllodes tumour is diagnosed in time, it is almost exclusively benign. If the case history is longer and the tumour is growing, the likelihood of malignancy increases. Surgical treatment is also sufficient in the case of malignant forms. The breast surgery does not need to be supplemented with exenteration of axilla.Key words: breast - phyllodes tumour.

[Sarcoma of the chest wall after radiotherapy for breast carcinoma - a case report]

INTRODUCTION

Sarcoma occurring in soft tissues after radiotherapy is a rare complication of radiation treatment of tumours. It was most often described after treatment for breast cancer as well as for non-Hodgkin lymphoma and cervical carcinoma. The time interval between the radiation therapy and the development of the sarcoma can be very wide. Treatment demands radical surgical resection of the sarcoma with the edge of the resected tissue without tumour cells. In some cases, this is followed by chemotherapy or radiotherapy. The median survival time is 23 months, the longest survival being associated with sarcomas removed in a radical way.

CASE REPORT

We present the case of a female patient with recurring leiomyosarcoma of the chest wall after radiotherapy for cancer of the right breast. In 2006, this 62-year-old patient was operated on to keep her right breast with axilla exenteration. After the surgery, hormonal therapy was followed by adjuvant radiotherapy of the right breast and the adjacent axilla. We used a linear accelerator and the total amount of radiation was 50 Gy (2 Gy fractionally once a day, five days a week). Four years after the operation, leiomyosarcoma was diagnosed in the pectoral muscle at the site where the tumour of the right breast had been excised. Between 2011 and 2013, a total of five operations of re-occurring sarcoma were performed - two excisions of the tumour, a mastectomy, rib resection and, at last, block resection of the chest wall. Adjuvant oncological treatment was not indicated. The patient, now being 69 years old, is still in a good physical and mental condition without any generalization of the disease.

CONCLUSION

Sarcoma of the chest wall is a relatively rare consequence of radiotherapy for breast cancer. Sarcoma treatment involves radical surgical resection of the tumour whenever possible. The surgery is mostly followed by radiotherapy which, however, is impossible in a patient after breast-preserving surgery for carcinoma with radiotherapy. Chemotherapy is not very effective in sarcomas. Therefore, the operation needs to be performed by an experienced surgeon in a sufficiently radical way.

[Complications of breast augmentation - a case report]

As with any surgery, breast augmentation does have certain risks and complications. The aim of this article is to point out a rare complication of breast augmentation - axillary silicone lymphadenopathy (defined as the presence of silicone in the lymph nodes). The authors present a case report of silicone lymphadenopathy in a young woman after the rupture of a silicone breast implant. As the number of women with breast implants is increasing, it is necessary to bear this rare complication of breast augmentation in mind in differential diagnosis of axillary lymphadenopathy.

[Difficult diagnosis of breast carcinoma]

The breast carcinoma is the most frequent cancer in women. The diagnosis has certain rules but sometimes it brings diagnostic difficulties. The aim of this article is to point out specific cases of breast cancer and to transmit our practical experience with the situations when ordinary diagnostic methods failed. The authors present four cases of the patients with breast carcinoma.

[Predictive factors for non-sentinel lymph nodes affection in breast carcinoma--outcomes of a Czech multicenter study of sentinel lymph nodes]

BACKGROUND

The aim of the study was to assess positivity nonsentinel lymph nodes in patients with macro, micro and submicrometastases in sentinel lymph nodes and find predictive factors of positivity nonsentinel lymph nodes. Study was conducted at the Department of Surgery in Pardubice, Pilsen, Ostrava and Zlín.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Sentinel lymph nodes were assessed based on standards of Czech Pathological Society. Detection of sentinel lymph nodes was performed based on radionavigation or combination of radionavigation and blue dye method.

RESULTS

In group N1 (macrometastases) there was found positivity of nonsentinel lymph nodes in 50% (45 from 90 patients). In group N1 Mi (micrometastases) there was found positivity of nonsentinel lymph nodes in 26.7% (16 from 60 patients). In group NO I+ (sub-micrometastases) there was found positivity of nonsentinel lymph nodes in 6.7% (1 from 15 patients). Predictive factors were size of metastasis, number of positive sentinel lymph nodes and grading. Size of tumor was not found to be a predictive factor of positivity nonsentinel lymph nodes.

DISCUSSION

High positivity of nonsentinel lymph nodes in pacients with macro and micrometastases in sentinel lymph nodes advocates to perform axillary lymph nodes dissection. Due to small number of patients with submicrometastases it is not possible to assess if axillary dissection is necessary or not. Predictive factors of positivity of nonsentinel lymph nodes are size of metastasis in sentinel lymph nodes, number of positive sentinel lymph nodes and grading. Size of tumor was not found to be a predictive factor due to small tumors in the study. In spite of this it is necessary to consider it like a predictive factor of positivity nonsentinel lymph nodes.

CONCLUSION

In patients with macro and micrometastases it is necessary to perform axillary dissection. In patients with submicrometastases in sentinel lymph nodes it is necessary to consider predictive factors.

[Mucinous adenocarcinoma of the appendix--case report]

The authors are describing a case of a patient with the diagnosis of the appendicular cancer. The 66-year-old patient underwent appendectomy because of signs of acute appendicitis, and than in the next step right-sided hemicolectomy because of histological finding of the mucinous adenocarcinoma of the appendix. Mucinous adenocarcinoma is the most common type of appendicular cancer, none the less this diagnosis is very rare.