[Methods of preserving intercostobrachial nerve during breast cancer operation and its clinical value].
OBJECTIVE
To study the methods and the clinical value of preserving intercostobrachial nerve during the axillary lymph nodes excision in breast cancer operations.


METHODS
One hundred and sixty-two cases of stages I, II, IIIa breast cancer patients were divided into experimental group and control group respectively. The intercostobrachial nerves were preserved in experimental group and not in control group. Both groups were treated following the practice guideline of breast cancer, and found no recurrence during 4 to 36 months following up.


RESULTS
The postoperative arm sensory disturbance was 22.2% in the experimental group, which was significantly different from that of the control group 73.3% (chi(2) = 41.80, P < 0.01), the incidence of pain is 12.5% in experimental group, which was also significantly different from that of control group 31.1% (chi(2) = 7.86, P < 0.01).


CONCLUSIONS
Preserving intercostobrachial nerves may significantly decrease the postoperative morbidity of arm sensory disturbance and pain during axillary excision of stage I, II, IIIa breast cancer patients.
Wei
Wei-dong
WD
Department of Thoracic, Cancer Center, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510060, China. weiwd@21cn.com
Wang
Xin
X
Rong
Tie-hua
TH
Huang
Zhi-fan
ZF
Li
Bao-Jiang
BJ
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001365:Axilla / Q000294:innervation* / Q000601:surgery; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007367:Intercostal Nerves / Q000293:injuries; D008197:Lymph Node Excision / Q000379:methods*; D008408:Mastectomy; D008875:Middle Aged; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000517:prevention & control; D012678:Sensation Disorders / Q000517:prevention & control