The use of skin sparing mastectomy in the treatment of breast cancer: The Emory experience.

INTRODUCTION: Long-term follow-up of the use of skin sparing mastectomy (SSM) in the treatment of breast cancer is presented to determine the impact of local recurrence (LR) on survival.

METHODS: 565 cases of breast cancer were treated by SSM and IBR from 1/1/1989-12/31/1998. The AJCC pathological staging was Stage 0 175 (31%), Stage I 135 (23.9%), Stage II 173 (30.6%), Stage III 54 (9.6%), Stage IV 8 (1.4%), recurrent 20 (3.5%). Forty-one patients received postoperative adjuvant radiation therapy.

RESULTS: Thirty-one patients developed a LR during the follow-up including five who received adjuvant radiation. The distribution of LR stratified by cancer stage was Stage 0 1 (3.2%), Stage I 5 (16.1%), Stage II 17 (54.8%), Stage III 6 (19.4%), and recurrent 2 (6.5%). The overall LR was 5.5%. Isolated LRs were treated with surgical resection and radiation therapy if not previously administered. Twenty-four patients (77.4%) developed a systemic relapse and 7 (22.6%) patients remained free of recurrent disease at a mean follow-up of 78.1 months. The cancer stage of those remaining disease free was Stage 0 1, Stage I 4, and Stage II 2.

CONCLUSIONS: LR of breast cancer after SSM is not always associated with systemic relapse.