ASO Author Reflections: Metastasis of Inflammatory Breast Cancer to the Contralateral Axilla: A Finding Meriting Further Study

Excerpt

Historically, nodal staging of breast cancer included assessment of the ipsilateral axillary and infraclavicular nodal basins, while ipsilateral supraclavicular and contralateral axillary metastasis (CAM) were considered stage IV disease. However, after reassessment of oncologic outcomes in the context of modern multidisciplinary breast cancer treatment, ipsilateral supraclavicular nodal metastasis was reclassified as regional spread.1,2 In inflammatory breast cancer (IBC), dermal lymphatic channels are obliterated by tumor, which can lead to aberrant lymphatic drainage, potentially increasing the rate of CAM.3 The prevalence of CAM, modalities for its diagnosis, its relationship to oncologic outcomes and disease stage, and its implications for treatment algorithms in patients with IBC have not been previously described. Thus, we sought to explore the phenomenon of CAM in this patient population. …