Influence of different operative methods on postoperative upper limb function in patients with early stage breast cancer
MA Xue-xia
HUANG Bi-ping
CHEN Kai-jia
ZHANG Hui
Abstract：Objective To study the influence of different operative methods on postoperative upper limb function in patients with early stage breast cancer. Methods From January 2006 to December 2008,125 cases with early satge breast cancer receiving sentinel lymph node biopsy(SLNB) replacing axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) were servered as study group;45 cases receiving ALND and postoperative pathological lymph node negative were served as control group at the same time. The postoperative upper limb complications were compared between two groups. Results In SLNB group,the incidence of numbness,swelling,pain,impaired sense and stiffness was 22.5% (18/80),5.0% (4/80),33.8% (27/80),15.0% (12/80),3.8% (3/80) respectively,less than those in ALND group 78.8% (26/33),39.4% (13/33),54.5% (18/33),57.6% (19/33),18.2% (6/33) (P ＜0.05 or P＜0.01). The incidence of myodynamic attenuation in the SLNB group was 8.7% (7/80),significantly lower than that in ALND group42.4% (14/33) (P＜0.01). In SLNB group,the average arm circumference difference was (0.12 ±0.67) cm,statistically lower than that in ALND group (0.86 ± 1.13) cm(P ＜0.01).Conclusions With the progress in surgical treatment of breast cancer,breast-conserving surgery and SLNB have been applied widely,so the impact of surgery on upper limb function gradually has bean reduced. At the same time,to develop different upper limb exercise program according to different operations can improve upper limb function and quality of life.
Keywords：Breast neoplasmsSentinel lymph node biopsyRecovery of function
Publication Date：2011-01-01
Online Publishing Date：2026-09-14(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)