Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Sep 16, 2021; 9(26): 7863-7869
Published online Sep 16, 2021. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v9.i26.7863
Migration of the localization wire to the back in patient with nonpalpable breast carcinoma: A case report
Young Jin Choi
Young Jin Choi, Department of Surgery, Chungbuk National University Hospital, Chungbuk National University College of Medicine, Cheongju 28644, South Korea
Author contributions: Choi YJ participated in collection of medical data, wrote the manuscript and approved the final manuscript.
Informed consent statement: Informed written consent was obtained from the patient for publication of this report and any accompanying images.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Young Jin Choi, MD, PhD, Professor, Department of Surgery, Chungbuk National University Hospital, Chungbuk National University College of Medicine, 1 Chungdae-ro, Seowon-gu, Cheongju 28644, South Korea. choiyj@chungbuk.ac.kr
Received: March 26, 2021
Peer-review started: March 26, 2021
First decision: June 15, 2021
Revised: June 19, 2021
Accepted: August 2, 2021
Article in press: August 2, 2021
Published online: September 16, 2021
Processing time: 167 Days and 23.8 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Due to the increasing number of diagnosed nonpalpable breast cancer cases, wire localization has been commonly performed for surgical guidance to remove nonpalpable breast lesions. This report presents a rare case of localized wire migration to a subcutaneous lesion of the upper back in a breast cancer patient undergoing breast-conserving surgery.

CASE SUMMARY

A 48-year-old female was scheduled for breast-conserving surgery for left breast cancer. Ultrasonography guided wire localization was performed intraoperatively by surgeon to localize the nonpalpable breast cancer. After axilla sentinel lymph node biopsy, we realized that the wire was not visualized. The wire was not found in the operation field, including the breast and axilla. Breast-conserving surgery was performed after wire re-localization. Intraoperative chest posteroanterior view revealed that the wire was located on the level of midaxillary line. Two days after the operation, a serial simple X-ray revealed that the wire was located on the subcutaneous lesion of the back. The wire tip was palpable under the skin of the upper back, and the wire was removed under local anesthesia.

CONCLUSION

Hooked wire misplacement can lead to fatal complications. Surgeons must consider the possibility of wire migration during breast cancer surgery.

Keywords: Breast carcinoma; Hooked wire; Migration; Nonpalpable breast lesion; Wire localization; Case report

Core Tip: Wire localization is commonly used method to localize nonpalpable breast cancer. Wire migration is infrequent complication, but the loss of a hooked wire can lead to fatal complications. Surgeons must consider the possibility of wire migration during breast cancer surgery, and the device must be found and removed.