Targeted axillary dissection in breast cancer by marking lymph node metastasis with a magnetic seed before starting neoadjuvant treatment

Abstract

We report the first documented clinical case of the use of magnetic seeds to mark axillary lymph node metastasis in breast cancer before neoadjuvant chemotherapy. After chemotherapy, the patient showed a complete radiological response. One single sentinel lymph nodewas detected using a radiotracer,while themarked nodewas intraoperative magnetometer-guided identified. The analysis of the nodes showed negative sentinel lymph node and positive marked node, and the subsequent targeted axillary dissection was performed. Marking axillary positive lymph nodes with a magnetic seed is a simple and effective procedure for the intraoperative localisation of the node after neoadjuvant treatment.