Breast cancer (BC) is the most common malignancy to affect females. The first suggestions of BC and its treatment date back to Ancient Egypt, 1500-1600 B.C. Throughout history, the management of BC has evolved from extensive radical mastectomy towards less invasive treatments. Radical mastectomy was introduced by W.S. Halsted in 1894, involving the resection of the breast, regional lymph nodes, pectoralis major and minor. Despite its mutiloperative lymphatic mapping and the concept of sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy (SLNB) have been developed. SLNB has replaced axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) to be the standard procedure for axillary staging in patients with clinically node-negative BC. Many women have since been spared ALND, including those with negative SLNB or with SLNs involved with micrometastases (0.2-2 mm in size). In the last decade, evidence gathered from new clinical trials suggests that ALND may be safely omitted even in BC patients with 1 or 2 positive SLNs if adjuvant radiotherapy is delivered.ating effect, it had been the main surgical approach to BC patients until 1948, when Patey and Dyson proposed its modified form that conserved pectoralis major and minor and the level III of axillary lymph nodes. The latter was associated with less postoperative morbidity and improved quality of life. The idea of limited breast tissue resection was introduced in the 1970s by Umberto Veronesi and led to further minimizations of surgery in BC patients until breast conservation became the standard of care for early-stage disease. In the 1990s, intra

Background: Breast cancer (BC) is the most common malignancy in women. Aim: To assess the impact of HER2 status on axillary lymph node (ALN) involvement in patients with invasive ductal carcinoma of no special type (IDC-NST) both at diagnosis and during the 4-year postoperative period. Patients and Methods: We retrospectively included 375 women with an early clinical stage of non-luminal IDC-NST who between 2007 and 2013 underwent breast surgery at a clinical hospital. They were divided into phenotype-based groups: HR+HER2-, HR+HER2+, HR-HER2+ and HR-HER2-. Only patients with sentinel lymph node (SLN) macrometastases underwent ALN dissection. If > 3 ALNs were positive, radiotherapy was delivered. All patients were treated with chemotherapy, HER2+ BC patients received trastuzumab, and hormone receptor (HR)-positive BC patients received hormonal therapy. Results: Larger tumor size, higher grade, HR+, HER2+ status, and lymphovascular invasion (LVI) were predictive for ALN metastases at diagnosis. The poorest overall, disease-free, and distant recurrence-free survival (OS, DFS, DRFS) were found in the HR-HER2-group, while the poorest locoregional recurrence-free survival (LRFS) was observed in HR-HER2+ and HR-HER2-groups. HER2 status was not predictor of survival. Conclusions: HER2+ status was predictive for ALN involvement at diagnosis but had no effect on 4-year LRFS in these patients.

The authors have provided an in-depth review of the history of saline and silicone gel–filled breast implants. In the history of medicine, no devices have been more scrutinized and thoroughly studied than breast implants. Although we as plastic surgeons recognize and appreciate the benefits that our patients derive from these devices, society as a whole continues to remain skeptical. The reasons for this are complex and multifactorial but appear to be fueled by the media, oppositional organizations, and several trial lawyers. Prior to 1990, when the silicone gel implant controversy began, there were only eight indexed publications that dealt with the issue of silicone gel breast implants. Since 1990, there have been more than 500 indexed publications dealing with silicone gel implants. At the time of the moratorium in 1992, we as plastic surgeons did not have a leg to stand on because there was a paucity of scientific evidence to support our observations that silicone breast implants were safe and effective devices.

No abstract

No abstract