[A case of locally advanced breast cancer that responded to preoperative chemotherapy]

A 51-year-old woman presented with a huge tumor in the left breast. The tumor occupied the whole breast, accompanied with a 10-cm wide red discoloration of the skin, subsequently followed by a massive axillary lymph node metastasis. The patient was diagnosed with locally advanced breast cancer, graded as T4cN2aM0, StageIIIB. After preoperative chemotherapy, even though the tumor could not be observed on a CT scan, it was assumed to persist in the skin as discoloration was observed. Bt+Ax+Mj+Mi(level 1+2) and a full-thickness skin graft transplantation were performed. Pathological findings revealed a benign remnant of the active cancer in the skin. Four months after the operation, local recurrence was observed in the skin of the chest wall. Therefore, radiotherapy was performed.