Background: Breast implant-associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma (BIA-ALCL) is a hematological malignancy that may occur in patients undergoing breast implant placement. It more commonly behaves as a solid tumor, and the criterion standard treatment consists in an en bloc capsulectomy, which may not always be possible, according to the location of the implant. When local residual disease is present, BIA-ALCL must be treated with adjuvant therapies.
Case presentation: We describe the case of a 76-year-old woman who underwent unilateral placement of a breast implant after breast cancer surgery in 2004 and developed BIA-ALCL in 2019. A multidisciplinary team managed her case, and en bloc capsulectomy was indicated for the treatment of the malignancy. The histological report showed focal neoplastic infiltration of the posterolateral margin of resection, further supported by positron emission tomography/computed tomography scan, which showed a local uptake in the right anterolateral chest wall. Therefore, adjuvant radiotherapy treatment was indicated for the management of local residual disease, alongside a stringent follow-up protocol. More than 1 year later, imaging scans show no signs of BIA-ALCL recurrence.
Conclusions: Local residual disease in BIA-ALCL is bound to be a progressively more common occurrence, as awareness of BIA-ALCL increases and more cases are diagnosed worldwide. Currently, there is no established consensus on a standard approach for the treatment for patients with a higher risk of local recurrence. Our experience describes the protocol we used to successfully manage a case of BIA-ALCL with incomplete surgical margins, which hopefully can serve colleagues treating patients with similar cases.
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