[Histologic comparison between endoscopic axillary lymphadenectomy after lipo-suction and classical surgical...

Suzanne recently described a new technique of axillary lymphadenectomy in breast cancer to reduce post surgical morbidity. It combines liposuction and endoscopic dissection. To determine whether this technique induces lymph node alterations, we examined retrospectively 111 lymphadenectomies done by this new method and compared them to 41 lymphadenectomies performed by conventional surgery. The percentage of altered lymph nodes, with or without metastasis, was approximately the same with both techniques (about 19%). Lymph nodes removed by conventional surgical lymphadenectomy had a detached capsule more frequently. Cellular crush was more frequent after liposuction and endoscopic dissection. Liposuction altered more frequently large lymph nodes, which represented, however, the minority of the lymph nodes removed by this technique. No specific alteration was detected in relation to either of the two technics.