Objective: The objective of the work was to evaluate the incidence and type of postoperative complications after radical exenteration of the axilla in conjunction with an implemented surgical operation. Design: Retrospective clinical study. Setting: Gynaecological and Obstetric Clinic, First Medical Faculty Charles University and General Faculty Hospital Prague, Apolinářská 18, Prague. Method: The authors made a retrospective analysis of postoperative complications in 116 selected patients, who underwent partial breast surgery or ablation of the breast with dissection of the axilla at the Gynaecological and Obstetric Clinic, First Medical Faculty Charles University and General Faculty Hospital in Prague in 1994–2000 on account of breast cancer stage I and II according to FIGO. The group comprised patients where radiotherapy or chemotherapy of the axilla was not used. The patients were at least 12 months after operation without signs of locoregional relapse of the disease and in the dissected axillary tissue at least 10 lymph nodes were found. The operations were implemented by nine different surgeons. Early (infection, seroma, haematoma) as well as late (oedema, paraesthesia, stiffness, pain, weakness of the upper extremity) complications were also evaluated. The authors compared the incidence of complaints in relation to age, the number of dissected nodes and extent of the breast surgery. The statistical significance of the phenomena was evaluated by Fisher’s exact test. Results: At least one complication was recorded in 65% of the patients. In early complications (haematoma, infection, seroma) neither the correlation with the patient’s age nor with the number of removed nodes was significant. There was a statistically significant relationship (P<0.05) between the incidence of infection and the extent of the breast surgery which probably was associated with the wound area. As to late complications (oedema, paraesthesia, stiffness, pain and weakness of the upper extremity) a significant relationship was found with lower painfulness in patients above 55 years (P<0.05) and lower sensation of weakness and paraesthesias in patients with partial breast operations (P<0.05). The more frequent complaints of younger patients were probably due to their greater everyday physical activity as compared with older women. The higher number of subjective complications in patients after ablation of the breast is explained not only by the size of the wound area but also by psychosocial reasons. Conclusion: Dissection of the axilla is part of standard surgical treatment of breast cancer. The surgical operation without radio- or chemotherapy is associated in 65% cases with long-term morbidity of the patients. With regard to the shift of diagnosis of breast cancer to earlier stages it is important to seek a less invasive staging method which will reduce the patient’s morbidity. The sentinel node biopsy method seems perspective.

        Key words: breast cancer, arm morbidity, axillary dissection, sentinel node biopsy