The significance of mammary skin edema in noninflammatory breast cancer.

Mammary skin edema has been quantitated in 205 cases of T1, T2 and T3 breast cancer by mammographic measurement, and its prognostic significance assessed. Edema was present in 70% of patients and the incidence was directly related to tumor size. Edema was seen on occasions in all quadrants of the breast, but the inner and lower quadrants were the most frequent sites of edema irrespective of the site of tumor. Histology showed the skin thickening located in the reticular dermis; the papillary dermis and epidermis showed no change. It was shown that neither dermal lymphatic involvement nor lymphatic obstruction by regional node involvement was of primary etiological significance. Skin edema correlates with prognosis since there is an increased likelihood of both systemic and local recurrence if skin edema exceeds 0.5 mm. Further investigation and longer follow-up is necessary to show whether skin edema represents a parameter which carries prognostic significance independent of the more usual clinical indications.