Metástasis ganglionares axilares contalaterales en cáncer de mama: controversia sobre su vía de diseminación, manejo y pronóstico

Abstract

Contralateral axillary lymph node metastases are a rare presentation in breast cancer. Although they are considered stage IV of the disease, it has been postulated that the spread of tumour cells to the contralateral axillary lymph nodes could occur through the lymph vessels and not through the bloodstream. We report the case of a 35-year-old woman who was diagnosed with a stage III invasive breast carcinoma and was treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy, modified radical mastectomy, radiotherapy and hormone therapy.Seven months after the surgery, the disease progressed, showing contralateral axillary lymph node metastases with no evidence of any other distant disease. This is an unusual progression of breast cancer and thus its management is not standardized. We reviewed the literature to search for evidence on how to treat this very special clinical situation.