The surgical management of parasternal recurrence of breast cancer

Although parasternal recurrence of breast cancer can be adequately controlled by radiation therapy, at times, surgical excision is more effective. In this paper, a new technique for the radical resection of the parasternal portion of the chest wall, including dissection of the internal mammary and supraclavicular lymph nodes, is proposed. Between 1977 and 1984, eleven patients with parasternal recurrence were treated in our department. Five of these cases underwent this kind of operation and four of them are still alive without further recurrence; the remaining patient developed skin metastasis postoperatively. One patient refused radiation therapy but, in any case, radiation therapy failed to control the parasternal recurrences in the other five patients. This new operation is a rational and effective mode of treatment for parasternal recurrence.