Transaxillary Breast Augmentation: Two Breast Cancer Patients with Successful Sentinel Lymph Node Diagnosis

Abstract

In recent years, some surgeons have been warned of possible problems with sentinel lymph node diagnosis (SLND) for patients who have undergone transaxillary breast augmentation (TBA), although no scientific studies support this warning. The authors report two additional cases of breast cancer in which the SLND was successfully performed for patients with previous TBA. The surgical anatomy of the axilla, the groups of lymph nodes, and a personal way of performing TBA are described. Five other reports concerning the same issue are thoroughly discussed. Four of these are clinical in vivo reports, and one is a cadaver study. The four in vivo studies and what we are reporting now clearly demonstrate that what was said regarding possible problems in the SLND after TBA was not founded on clinical research and contradicts these five clinical findings.

Reoperative Sentinel Lymph Node Surgery

“…Again, the success rate of sentinel lymph node biopsy was 100% [24]. Mottura and del Castillo [25] published their results of sentinel lymph node biopsy after transaxillary breast augmentation in two patients. The implant is placed in a subpectoral location through an incision made at the upper portion of the axilla.…”

Transaxillary Nonendoscopic Subpectoral Augmentation Mammaplasty: A 10-Year Experience With Gel vs Saline in 2000 Patients—With Long-Term Patient Satisfaction Measured by the BREAST-Q

“…The issue of lymphatic interruption has been addressed in several publications, and successful mapping and sentinel lymph node biopsy can be performed after TAM. [22][23][24] Clinicians have observed the formation of a fibrous band along the upper arm in up to 15% of patients in large series of axillary BA. 25,26 These bands reportedly resolved either spontaneously or with massage in all cases, which also has been true in our experience.…”

Implicações da mamoplastia de aumento via transaxilar na pesquisa de linfonodo sentinela: revisão da literatura

“…A mamoplastia de aumento por via transaxilar é um procedimento que está criando cada vez mais adeptos dentro da Cirurgia Plástica, uma vez que apresenta bons resultados estéticos com um acesso simples, de fácil reprodutibilidade e sem adicionar incisões na mama [10][11][12][13] . A atenção com a manipulação excessiva dos tecidos na região axilar deve ser de preocupação do cirurgião plástico, evitando assim danos aos ductos linfáticos 13,16 .…”

“…Ainda não existem muitos estudos controlados disponíveis na literatura sobre a real implicação desta técnica cirúrgica numa futura pesquisa de LS. No entanto, os dois estudos de coorte disponíveis até o momento 12,13 , juntamente com a maioria dos estudos com menor força estatística publicados [9][10][11] , favorecem a hipótese de que a mamoplastia de aumento por via axilar não influencia negativamente a identificação do LS.…”