[A case of sepsis development caused by a local infection after breast cancer operation]

The patient was a 77-year-old woman. Simple mastectomy and axilla lymphadenectomy (level I) were performed for a diagnosis of carcinoma of the right breast in November 2004. No complications were observed after the operation. However, sudden pyrexia of 39-degree and a large quantity of scours were onset at the 10th day from the operation. Although a conservative treatment took effect, dyspnea and urine flow fall were shown in the morning of the 11th day without success. A life saving treatment was started due to anoxemia with a diagnosis of shock caused by exsiccation. A bacterial culture showed MRSA and Pseudomonas aeruginosa from an inserted J-background. Antibiotic regimen/endotoxin adsorption and haemodialysis were performed.

A breast cancer surgery is one of the body surface surgeries, and a breast cancer patient rarely becomes gravely ill because an infection is relatively few. However, there is a tendency to insert a closed system drain for the purpose of maintaining a blood flow from a flap to prevent seroma and complications after the surgery. Therefore, once an infection is developed antidromatically, the infection is detected not only too late but a grave event also is a possibility.