Thoracoscopic approach in the treatment of breast cancer relapse in the internal mammary lymph node

Abstract

Regional recurrence of breast cancer may involve the surgical site of mastectomy, axillary lymph nodes and the internal mammary lymphatic chain. Treatment of regional recurrent mammary cancer rarely requires thoracic surgery intervention, except in some selected cases of recurrence in the chest wall. Concerning lymphatic recurrence in breast cancer, the therapeutic choice rarely includes surgical lymph node excision. Exclusive videothoracoscopic (VTS) resection of recurrence in internal mammary lymph nodes has not as yet been reported in the literature. Due to the rare surgical exploration of this lymphatic chain, the thoracoscopic approach is described only in three published studies involving humans, furthermore, in these three descriptions, the operation was performed only for mere staging but not for the whole resection of the recurrent lymphatic structure. We present a case of recurrence of breast cancer in lymph nodes of the internal mammary chain that was treated with complete resection by pure VTS surgery.