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Xiao-Shan Cao,1,2 Bin-Bin Cong,1,2 Xiao Sun,1 Peng-Fei Qiu,1 Yong-Sheng Wang1 1Breast Cancer Center, Shandong Cancer Hospital and Institute, Jinan, Shandong, People’s Republic of China; 2School of Medicine and Life Sciences, Jinan University-Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Jinan, Shandong, People’s Republic of ChinaInternal mammary lymph node (IMLN) metastasis has a similar prognostic importance as axillary lymph nodal involvement in breast cancer patients.1 Patients with both axillary- and internal mammary-positive nodes have a very poor prognosis.2 Reliable data for internal mammary nodal metastases are reported to be present in 18%–33% (mean 23.4%) of patients who have not been treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) mostly concomitant with axillary metastases, and metastases exclusively situated in the internal mammary chain occur in 2%–11% of patients,3 but limited data are available in the context of NAC. |
