Abstract
Sappey's demonstration of the breast lymphatic vessels, showing the presence of a subareolar lymphatic plexus and few thick vessels originating from the breast itself, is famous. However, with the exception of such studies performed by injection methods, to the best of our knowledge there has been no demonstration of the entire distribution of the breast lymphatic vessels. D2-40 immunohistochemistry of semiserial sections (at 0.1-mm intervals) taken from the healthy breast of a 20-year-old female cadaver revealed that the lymphatic endothelial density was much higher in and along the mammary glandular tissues than in the overlying subcutaneous and deep fascial tissues. Thus, the extent of the subareolar lymphatic plexus is likely to have been overestimated by the injection method. Instead, networks of lymphatic vessels around the mammary glands were evident in the physiological state.
