Arm and shoulder morbidity in breast cancer patients after breast-conserving therapy versus mastectomy

Introduction. The objective of this study was to compare the prevalence of late effects in the arm and shoulder in patients with breast cancer stage II who had radical modified mastectomy (RM) or breast-conserving therapy (BCT) followed by loco-regional adjuvant radiotherapy with or without chemotherapy/anti-oestrogen. Material and methods. All patients had axillary lymph node dissection. At a median of 47 months (range 32-87) post-surgery, 263 women (RM: n=186, BCT: n=77) were seen during an outpatient visit and had their arm and shoulder function and the presence of lymphedema assessed by a clinical examination, interview and self-rating. Volume calculation was used to measure lymphedema. Results. In the RM group 20% had developed arm lymphedema versus 8% in the BCT group (p=0.02). In multivariate analysis lymphedema was associated with a higher number of metastatic axillary lymph nodes [OR1.14, p=0.02], RM [OR 2.75, p=0.04] and increasing body mass index (BMI) [OR 1.11, p