Abstract
Treatment of breast cancer developing at the site of pacemaker implantation poses various problems. We report the treatment strategies we employed in 3 cases of breast cancer on the left side developing at the site of pacemaker implantation to treat complete atrioventricular block. Case #1. Left breast cancer : Breast-conserving surgery of the left-sided breast cancer was performed after reimplantation of the pacemaker in the right chest. Case #2. Left breast cancer : Mastectomy and sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy were performed, as the cancer was not directly at the site of the pacemaker implantation. The SLN biopsy revealed macrometastasis ; however, to avoid malfunction of the pacemaker, axillary lymph node and post-mastectomy radiotherapy was not administered. Case #3. Left breast cancer in a woman with repeated pacemaker infections ; the border between the cancer and the infectious scar was indistinct. In this case, the lead of the pacemaker needed to be cut so that the mastectomy could be performed. We need to pay greater attention to these problems in patients with pacemakers, because their numbers are expected to increase with the aging of the population.
