Lymph drainage of the mammary glands in female cats.

The mammary gland is a common site of neoplasms in the female cat. All the malignant tumors metastasize to a lesser or a greater extent through the lymphatic system. However, the anatomical knowledge of this system is not sufficiently well known in cats to develop a reasoned model for the extirpation of these glands in case of malignant tumors. A study of the lymph drainage in 50 female cats was done by indirect injection in vivo of India ink inside the mammary parenchyma. After a waiting interval, mammary glands were extracted and the thoracic cavity opened. All the lymph nodes were examined after clearing. The success rate of the colorations of lymph nodes and lymph vessels was 91.8%. Out of the 100 observed mammary chains, the two intermediate mammary glands (T2, A1) may drain caudally to the superficial inguinal lymph center and/or cranially to the axillary lymph center. The T1 gland always drains exclusively cranially and A2 exclusively caudally. The two mammary glands (T1 and A1) often drain towards the sternal cranial lymph nodes, but 100% of the T2 drain towards it. This research assumes that the limit between the two directions of drainage can exist only between glands T2 and A1. The results obtained with the study of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th mammary glands permit production of new and more complete data of functional significance that will eventually aid block dissection surgical technique in the removal of malignant tumors in cats.