Factors that Affect Drain Indwelling Time after Breast Cancer Surgery.
OBJECTIVE
The most common procedure to prevent seroma formation, a common complication after breast and axillary surgery, is to use prophylactic surgical drains. Ongoing discussions continue regarding the ideal time for removing drains after surgical procedures. In this study, we aimed to investigate factors that affect drain indwelling time (DIT).


METHODS
From 2014 to 2015, a total of 91 consecutive patients with breast cancer were included in the study. The demographic characteristics of the patients, treatment methods, histopathologic features of the tumor, size of removed breast tissue (BS), tumor size (TS), number of totally removed lymph nodes (TLN), and metastatic lymph nodes (MLN), whether they had neoadjuvant chemotherapy, and the DIT were retrospectively recorded from the hospital database.


RESULTS
The mean age of the patients was 48.9 years, and the mean DIT was 4.8 days. The mean size of breast removed was 17.3 cm and tumor size was 4.7 cm, and the mean number of metastatic lymph nodes was 3.3, and mean total number of lymph nodes was 14.1. Patients who had neoadjuvant chemotherahpy had longer DIT. There was a positive correlation between the BS, TS, TLN, MLN, length of hospital stay, and DIT. Linear regresion analysis revealed that the BS, TLN, and history of neoadjuvant chemotherahpy were independent risk factors for DIT.


CONCLUSIONS
DIT primarily depends on BS, TLN, and history of neoadjuvant chemotherahpy. A policy for the management of removing drains to prevent seroma formation should thus be individualized.
Department of General Surgery, Dicle University School of Medicine, Diyarbakır, Turkey.
Ömer
Ö
Uslukaya
Department of General Surgery, Dicle University School of Medicine, Diyarbakır, Turkey.
Ahmet
A
Türkoğlu
Department of General Surgery, Dicle University School of Medicine, Diyarbakır, Turkey.
Metehan
M
Gümüş
Department of General Surgery, Dicle University School of Medicine, Diyarbakır, Turkey.
Zübeyir
Z
Bozdağ
Department of Family Medicine,, Dicle University School of Medicine, Diyarbakır, Turkey.
Ahmet
A
Yılmaz
Department of Radiology, Dicle University School of Medicine, Diyarbakır, Turkey.
Hatice
H
Gümüş
Department of Pathology, Dicle University School of Medicine, Diyarbakır, Turkey.
Şeyhmus
Ş
Kaya
Department of General Surgery, Dicle University School of Medicine, Diyarbakır, Turkey.
Mesut
M
Gül
Breast cancer; drainage; mastectomies; suction