Abstract:

Objective

To study the clinical effect and technical feasibility of endoscopic axillary ly mph node dissection for stageⅠandⅡbreast cancer patients.

Methods

From January 2006 to January 2008,118 patients with stageⅠandⅡbreast cancer were treated with endoscopic axillary ly mph node dissection(the EALND group,n=55)and conventional axillary ly mph node dissection(the CALND group,n=63),respectively.The operation ti me,bleeding amount,nu mber of ly mph nodes dissected,axillary drainage amount and prognosis were compared bet ween the t wo groups.Student's t test and Chisquare test were used for statistical analysis.

Results

In the EALND group,the mean operation ti me was 121.0 minutes,the intraoperative bleeding amount was 51.0 ml,the mean nu mber of ly mph nodes dissected was 17.3,the total postoperative axillary drainage was 208.0 ml;the follow-up of 1-3 years showed 2 patients had recurrence and metastasis.In the CALND group,the mean operation ti me was 70.0 minutes,the intraoperative bleeding amount was 80.0 ml,the mean number of ly mph nodes harvested was 19.5,the total postoperative axillary drainage was 350.0 ml;and postoperative recurrence and metastasis were in 2 patients.The operation ti me was longer in the EALND group than in the CALND group,but the intraoperative bleeding and postoperative drainage of the EALND group were significantly less than those of the CALND group(P＜0.05);short term outcome had no significant difference between the two groups(χ²=0.02,P=0.89).

Conclusion

Endoscopic axillary lymph node dissection can obtain similar therapeutic effect with conventional techniques.

Key words: Breast neoplasms, Endoscopy, Axillary lymph node dissection