Lumpectomy and sentinel lymph node navigation surgery for breast cancer under local anesthesia

We studied and analyzed therapeutic outcomes of a radical surgery under local anesthesia for breast cancer in our department. Subjects were 53 patients with breast cancer whose diagnoses were definitely made before surgery. Indications were: localized ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) diagnosed preoperatively; invasive carcinoma less than 3 cm in tumor diameter on ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging scan; and clinically tumors with negative axillary lymph nodes. Operative procedures included microdochectomy or lumpectomy associated with sentinel lymph node navigation biopsy (SLNB). We could perform the operation under local anesthesia in all the 53 patients, and were not demanded to shift from local to general anesthesia. Surgical stumps were positive in 10 patients (18.9%). Of the ten patients, additional resection was performed in one, and irradiation was added to the remaining nine patients. SLNB was performed in a total of 39 patients, six (15.4%) patients of them had metastasis and two out of the six patients underwent additional axillary lymph node dissection. None of serious complications were encountered. Local recurrence and hepatic metastasis occurred in each one patient in an averaged observation period of 15.1 months. This day's radical operation under local anesthesia for breast cancer is a useful procedure as minimally invasive surgery as for the indications employed in this study. (author)