Breast Cancer Survivor Develops Painful Scar Calcifications 15 Years After Treatment

What happened, in summary

A woman was diagnosed with lobular cancer of the left breast in 2003. She underwent a mastectomy with axillary dissection in March that year. Pathology showed a 2.5 cm lobular carcinoma that was triple-negative. She then received 6 cycles of paclitaxel, epirubicin, and cyclophosphamide, followed by chest-wall and regional-node radiotherapy completed in September 2003.

Her mastectomy wound remained healed until 2018, about 15 years after treatment, when painful inflammation, abscesses, fistulas, and hard calcifications began recurring in the scar. These episodes continued for several years and required repeated drainage or removal of calcified material.

In November 2022, surgeons excised the lateral part of the affected scar. A second operation in May 2023 removed the remaining medial calcifications and reconstructed the area with a thoraco-epigastric flap. Both surgical specimens showed dystrophic calcifications and inflammation without signs of cancer. She later required drainage of a postoperative seroma-related abscess, but no new calcifications were found. The latest documented tissue findings therefore remained free of cancer about 20 years after her original breast-cancer diagnosis.