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.