Objective: The study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of breast conservative surgery in patients with retro-areolar breast cancer
Background: Centrally located tumors have long been thought to vave high incidence of multi-centricity and multi-focality and classically treated with mastectomy
Methods: Eighteen female patients with Stage I or IIa retro-areolar breast cancer that were ≥ 1 cm away from nipple-areolar complex, were enrolled for our study at General Surgery Department, Menoufia University, from January 2014 to December 2015. Patients were fully assessed preoperatively. After patients' counseling and consent, all patients were subjected to lumpectomy with nipple-areola complex preservation. All patients were offered post-operative radiotherapy. Post-operative complications were recorded. Oncological and cosmetic outcome and patient satisfaction were evaluated
Results: The resection margins of the excised mass were 1.283±0.583 cm and were found to be clear of malignant cells in all patients. Axillary lymph nodes were positive for malignancy in 6 patients (33.33%) (p 0.157). 13 patients (72.22%) had invasive ductal carcinoma on postoperative histopathology (p 0.002). 6 patients developed postoperative complications (p 0.001). Recurrence occurred only in 2 patients after 12 and 18 months (p 0.001). The cosmetic outcome was excellent in 9 patients, good in 7 patients and fair in 2 patients (p 0.115). 16 patients (89%) were satisfied by the end results (p 0.001).
Conclusion: Breast conserving surgery is a feasible procedure for retro-areolar breast cancer.