NIPPLE-AREOLAR PRESERVATION DURING BREAST-CONSERVING THERAPY FOR SUBAREOLAR BREAST CARCINOMAS

Objective: To determine if women with subareolar breast carcinoma can be successfully treated by breast-conserving therapy consisting of seg mental mastectomy that preserves the nipple-areolar complex, axillary lymph node dissection, and postoperative irradiation. Design: Prospect ive study. Setting: Tertiary care cancer center. Patients: Twenty-five patients; median age, 56 years; median tumor diameter, 1.4 cm; and me dian follow-up, 48 months. Intervention: Breast-conserving therapy for subareolar primary breast carcinoma. Results: Two patients had positi ve surgical margins of resection, and another patient underwent simple mastectomy after developing a local recurrence. Nipple-areolar distor tion was the most common cosmetic deformity after breast-conserving th erapy, but overall cosmesis was good. At the most recent follow-up, al l patients were free of disease. Conclusion: Patients who have small s ubareolar primary breast carcinomas without evidence of nipple involve ment are candidates for breast-conserving therapy with nipple-areolar preservation.