Open AccessPartial Lower Axillary Dissection for Patients with Clinically Node-negative Breast Cancer
Author(s) -
Hiroshi Kodama,
Kazuyuki Mise,
Norimichi Kan
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of international medical research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.421
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1473-2300
pISSN - 0300-0605
DOI - 10.1177/030006051204000632
Subject(s) - medicine , axillary lymph node dissection , breast cancer , dissection (medical) , surgery , axilla , lymph node , lymphatic system , cancer , sentinel lymph node , pathology
Objective: To evaluate retrospectively the outcomes of partial lower axillary lymph node dissection caudal to the intercostobrachial nerve in patients with clinically node-negative (N0) breast cancer.Methods: Numbers of dissected and metastatic nodes, overall and disease-free survival rates, postoperative complication rates, and axillary recurrence were compared between patients who underwent breast cancer surgery with partial axillary node dissection (n = 1043) and historical controls who underwent conventional dissection (n = 1084).Results: The 5-year overall and disease-free survival rates were 95.6% and 89.7%, and 94.9% and 88.4%, respectively, in the partial dissection and conventional dissection groups; the differences were not significant. Mean duration of surgery (41.6 min versus 60.9 min), intraoperative blood loss (28.0 ml versus 51.3 ml), volume of lymphatic drainage at 2 weeks postoperatively (488 ml versus 836 ml), and persistent arm lymphoedema (0.0% versus 11.8%) were significantly different between the partial and conventional dissection groups, respectively.Conclusions: Partial axillary lymph node dissection was associated with similar survival rates (but lower postoperative complication rates) compared with conventional axillary dissection and is recommended in patients with N0 breast cancer.