How many lymph nodes are removed during axillary dissection?
Axillary dissection is performed on patients whose breast cancer has spread to the lymph nodes or who are not candidates for sentinel node biopsy. The lymph nodes are buried in fat and cannot be seen during surgery. Most women have 10-30 underarm lymph nodes. In axillary dissection, the surgeon removes the pad of fat containing these lymph nodes. Following surgery, the tissue is examined under a microscope to determine how many lymph nodes were removed and whether any contain cancer cells (This takes about 5 days.). After axillary dissection, a small drain tube is left in place to collect the lymph fluid that forms after surgery. This drain tube is removed in the doctor’s office once the drainage has decreased to a minimal amount.
