Abstract
Objective
To evaluate the prevalence of internal mammary lymph nodes (IMLNs) on breast magnetic
resonance imaging (MRI) in a screening population.
Materials and methods
We retrospectively reviewed 92 consecutive screening breast MRI exams. Logistic regression
was performed to ascertain the risk of IMLNs in cancer-free subjects and to determine
whether the risk varies with age.
Results
IMLNs were present in 48.9% of patients. Mean node size was 4 mm (range, 3–10 mm).
The prevalence of IMLNs was not related to age. No patients developed breast cancer
after a mean follow-up of 3 years.
Conclusion
Subcentimeter IMLNs are common incidental findings at screening breast MRI.
Keywords
To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to Clinical ImagingAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
References
- Internal mammary node status: a major prognosticator in axillary node-negative breast cancer.Ann Surg Oncol. 1995; 2: 32-37
- Should internal mammary nodes be sampled in the sentinel lymph node era?.Ann Surg Oncol. 2000; 7: 188-192
- Prognosis of breast cancer patients after mastectomy and dissection of internal mammary nodes.Ann Surg. 1985; 202: 702-707
- Long-term mortality from heart disease and lung cancer after radiotherapy for early breast cancer: prospective cohort study of about 300,000 women in US SEER cancer registries.Lancet Oncol. 2005; 6: 557-565
- Evaluation of small internal mammary lymph metastases in breast cancer by MRI.Radiat Med. 1999; 17: 189-193
- Risk of internal mammary lymph node metastasis and its relevance in prognosis of breast cancer patients.Ann Surg. 1983; 198: 681-684
- Internal mammary nodes in breast cancer: diagnosis and implications for patient management—a systematic review.J Clin Oncol. 2008; 26: 4981-4989
- The influence of untreated internal mammary metastases upon the course of mammary cancer.Cancer. 1977; 39: 533-538
- The extended extrapleural radical mastectomy: its role in the treatment of carcinoma of the breast.Ann Surg. 1974; 179: 260-265
- Radical mastectomy versus radical mastectomy plus internal mammary dissection: five-year results of an international cooperative study.Cancer. 1976; 37: 206-214
- Breast cancer subpopulation with high risk of internal mammary lymph nodes metastasis: analysis of 2,269 Chinese breast cancer patients treated with extended radical mastectomy.Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2008; 107: 379-387
- Indications for breast MRI in the patient with newly diagnosed breast cancer.J Natl Compr Canc Netw. 2009; 7: 193-201
- Regional lymph node staging in breast cancer: the increasing role of imaging and ultrasound-guided axillary lymph node fine needle aspiration.Radiol Clin N Am. 2010; 48: 989-997
- Ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration biopsy of internal mammary nodes: technique and preliminary results in breast cancer patients.AJR. 2014; 203: W213-W220
- The impact on post-surgical treatment of sentinel lymph node biopsy of internal mammary lymph nodes in patients with breast cancer.Ann Surg Oncol. 2007; 14: 1486-1492
- The clinical value of parasternal sentinel node biopsy in breast cancer.Ann Surg Oncol. 2006; 13: 321-326
- Incidence of internal mammary node metastases after a sentinel lymph node technique in breast cancer and its implication in the radiotherapy plan.Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2004; 60: 715-721
- Should the hunt for internal mammary chain sentinel nodes begin? An evaluation of 150 breast cancer patients.Ann Surg Oncol. 2003; 10: 935-941
- 18F-FDG PET/CT-positive internal mammary lymph nodes: pathologic correlation by ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration and assessment of associated risk factors.AJR. 2013; 200: 1138-1144
- Internal mammary lymph drainage and sentinel node biopsy in breast cancer—a study on 1008 patients.Eur J Surg Oncol. 2009; 35: 252-257
Article info
Publication history
Published online: May 26, 2015
Accepted:
May 15,
2015
Received in revised form:
May 10,
2015
Received:
March 26,
2015
Footnotes
☆Our study was approved by our Institutional Review Board and was compliant with requirements of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
☆☆Grants: Statistical analysis supported by CTSA grant # UL1 RR024131.
★A.A. supported by NIBIB T32 Training Grant 1 T32 EB001631.
Identification
Copyright
Published by Elsevier Inc.
