Lymphatic Mapping After Previous Breast Surgery

Rationale: Like in primary breast cancer, prognosis in recurrent breast cancer is correlated with regional lymph node status. Therefore, axillary staging may be warranted in patients with recurrent disease and intact axillary nodes, although this has not been described in guidelines yet. The lymphatic drainage pathways in the breast and/or axilla could have been changed due to prior surgery and/or radiotherapy. These aberrant drainage pathways could be detected with lymphatic mapping and sentinel node biopsy (SNB), leading to a more accurate staging.

Objective: To assess the technical feasibility of lymphoscintigraphy after prior breast surgery. A second goal is to investigate whether or not previous breast surgery (with or without radiotherapy) significantly changes the lymphatic drainage pathways of the breast.