title: Prognostic Influence of Internal Mammary Node Drainage in Patients with Early-stage Breast Cancer.
abstract: The management of internal mammary nodes (IMNs) during multidisciplinary treatment of breast cancer has been debated for the last four decades without unequivocal conclusion.
  
  
  
  We retrospectively reviewed patients with breast cancer who underwent sentinel lymph node biopsy at our center from 2008 until 2012. IMN drainage was assessed as a potential risk factor for local and distant disease recurrence.
  
  
  
  We identified 712 patients, with incidence of drainage to IMNs of 18.4%. No detrimental effect of the pattern of drainage to IMNs was found after a median follow-up of 58 months. A similar outcome was observed when drainage to IMNs was evaluated as a risk factor for patient survival. The potential risk factors for drainage to IMNs during sentinel lymph node biopsy were younger age (p=0.002) and tumor location in lower-outer, lower-inner, and upper-inner versus upper-outer quadrant (p<0.0001).
  
  
  
  The drainage to IMNs is unlikely to have a detrimental effect on patient outcome.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Palacky University, Olomouc, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Lucie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lukesova
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Palacky University, Olomouc, Czech Republic davvrana@gmail.com.|Institute of Molecular and Translational Medicine Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Palacky University, Olomouc, Czech Republic.|Toxicogenomics Unit, National Institute of Public Health, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Vrana
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery I, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Palacky University, Olomouc, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Ivan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Svach
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery I, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Palacky University, Olomouc, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Nora
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zlamalova
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Atlas Hospital, Zlín, Czech Republic.|Faculty of Humanities, Tomas Bata University in Zlín, Zlin Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Jiri
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gatek
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Palacky University, Olomouc, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Zuzana
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Vlachová
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Palacky University, Olomouc, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Marcel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Matzenauer
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Palacky University, Olomouc, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Pavel
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Koranda
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Palacky University, Olomouc, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Klara
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hruzova
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical and Molecular Pathology, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Palacky University, Olomouc, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Tomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tichy
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Palacky University, Olomouc, Czech Republic.|Institute of Molecular and Translational Medicine Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Palacky University, Olomouc, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Bohuslav
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Melichar
mesh_terms: D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D004322:Drainage; D006801:Humans; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000473:pathology*; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D011379:Prognosis
keywords: Breast cancer; drainage; internal mammary nodes; lymph nodes; radiotherapy