The effect of immediate lymphatic reconstruction on the post-operative drain output after axillary lymph node dissection for breast cancer: A retrospective comparative study

Abstract

Axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) for breast cancer has been considered to be associated with a variety of complications, such as excessive postoperative wound drainage, prolonged drain placement, or seroma formation in the short term, or arm lymphedema in the long run. Immediate lymphedema reconstruction (ILR) has been proposed to reduce the occurrence of arm lymphedema by anastomosing the transected arm lymphatics to nearby branches of the axillary vein immediately after ALND. This study aims to demonstrate that ILR can also reduce the postoperative drainage amount.