DELAYED CELLULITIS ASSOCIATED WITH CONSERVATIVE THERAPY FOR BREAST-CANCER

Background and Objectives: Delayed breast cellulitis is an infrequentl y reported entity after conservation therapy for breast cancer. We des cribe our experience with this entity at Naval Medical Center, San Die go. Methods: Eight patients who presented with delayed cellulitis afte r wide local excision/axillary dissection and boast radiotherapy (RT) are presented. Their clinical characteristics and therapy are describe d and possible causative factors are analyzed. Results: The latency of breast cellulitis is variable after breast conservation therapy, alth ough most cases in our experience and in the literature occur within a year post-RT. These infections are frequently refractory to a single course of antibiotics (n = 4 cases in our experience). Some patients s uffer multiple episodes separated by months. Conclusions: Breast cance r patients are at risk for delayed cellulitis after conservative surge ry and RT. The mechanism of such events probably involves lymph stasis , however, therapy is no different from the more frequently occurring cases of cellulitis presenting perioperatively. (C) 1998 Wiley -Liss, Inc.