Complications of breast cancer surgery at Conakry oncological surgery unit

Abstract

To analyze surgical complications and their impact on the prognosis of operated breast cancer patients. This was a retrospective cohort study of breast cancer patients who underwent radical breast cancer surgery (RBS) or conservative breast cancer surgery (CBS) with axillary lymph node dissection. The oncological surgery unit of Donka National Hospital served as a framework for this study from January 2007 to December 2016. A total of one hundred and thirteen patients, including 111 women and 2 men were operated during the study period. The cancer was stage III in 92 (81.1%) cases. RBS was performed in 103 (91.1%) patients and CBS in 10 (8.9%) patients. Of the patients, 92.5% had neoadjuvant chemotherapy, 68.5% had adjuvant chemotherapy, 33.6% had adjuvant radiotherapy and 39.8% hormone therapy. Surgery was complicated by intraoperative hemorrhage in 2 (2.1%) cases. Early postoperative complications included pain 47 (50%), seroma 14 (14.9%), delayed healing 13 (13.8%), hematoma 9 (9.6%), infection 2 (2.1%) and embolism 2 (2.1%). Late complications includedrelapse in 59 (52.2%), brachial pain in 23 (20.4%), lymphedema in 19 (16.8%) and shoulder movement limitations in 8 (7.1%). There was 27.1% of relapsesoccurred in patients with lymphedema versus 5.7% in the absence of lymphedema (p=0.002). The overall mortality was 59 (52.2%), including 4 (3.5%) postoperative cases. Operative pain, seroma, lymphedema and recurrence were the most common complications. This study showed that the high risk of death was related to the occurrence of relapse, more commonly seen in patients with lymphoedema.