management of axillary disease
Last reviewed 06/2023
The management of axillary nodal disease in breast cancer can vary from no treatment to complete clearance of all axillary nodes. Clearance has the following aims:
- improves staging, so giving a better indication of prognosis
- indicates need for adjuvant therapy with either/or:
- irradiation
- chemotherapy
- hormonal therapy
- control local disease in axilla
However, even complete axillary clearance has no effect on survival.
Some approaches to the managment of axillary nodes are detailed in the submenu:
- leave nodes alone
- axillary node sampling
- complete axillary clearance