Ho Chi Minh City Ms. Lien, 59 years old, for the past three months has had a small tumor appear in her right breast, no pain, no discharge, the doctor performed surgery to remove the breast to prevent cancer.
Ultrasound and mammography results (breast X-ray) at Tam Anh General Hospital showed that the patient's right breast had a tumor measuring 12x12x9 mm, classified as BIRADS 4B (breast examination results classification system), with a 10-50% chance of having cancer.
Breast biopsy revealed invasive ductal carcinoma of the breast, grade 2. This is the presence of abnormal cells inside the milk ducts of the breast.
On September 14, Dr. Huynh Ba Tan, Department of Breast Surgery, said that patients have two options: breast-conserving surgery or mastectomy to treat cancer and sentinel lymph node biopsy (the first lymph node that cancer cells reach).
With the breast conservation method, the tumor and a part of the surrounding normal breast tissue are surgically removed, preserving the breast, with high aesthetics. In case of complete removal of the tumor and the right mammary gland, the patient can reconstruct the mammary gland with a breast implant or a muscle-skin flap.
Doctor Tan examines a patient. Photo: Nguyen Tram
After consideration, Ms. Lien chose to have her breasts removed. The surgical team removed her right breast and performed a sentinel lymph node biopsy. Dr. Tan injected a blue substance around the areola, made a small incision in the armpit to remove the blue lymph nodes, and sent them for testing.
Pathology results showed that the tumor did not invade the vessels, skin, nipple, skeletal muscle, or surrounding nerves. Therefore, the patient did not need axillary lymph node dissection, reducing the risk of hand edema.
A sentinel lymph node biopsy surgeon during breast cancer surgery. Photo: Nguyen Tram
Doctor Tan said that thanks to the surgery, the tumor was completely free of malignant cells. The patient was treated with hormonal drugs for 5 years and supported with anti-osteoporosis drugs.
Ms. Lien said that she was lucky to go to the doctor early so the chance of successful treatment was high.
According to Dr. Tan, sentinel lymph node biopsy technique requires doctors to be highly trained and fully equipped, helping patients know early whether the axillary lymph nodes have metastasis or not, making treatment more convenient.
Duc An
* Patient name has been changed
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