Surgical Procedure in the Exeresis of Solitary Internal Mammary Metastases

Abstract

Six patients with a solitary internal mammary metastasis observed 1 to 15 years after a previous radical mastectomy, were surgically treated. The surgical procedure required a wide toracectomy, with removal of the edge of the sternum and of a portion of the second, third and fourth rib; the skin over the tumor and the underling pleura were removed in bloc with the specimen. The repair of the chest-wall defect was obtained with a full-thickness-flap-pedicle graft developed either from skin and subcutaneous tissues of chest and abdominal walls or from the opposite breast.