Axillary Lymphadenectomy

Excerpt

Axillary lymphadenectomy, or axillary dissection, is a procedure where a surgeon dissects out the lymph nodes within the axilla en bloc. This is done most commonly for cancer workups and treatment. This procedure used to be done widely, but it is done much more selectively in recent years with advances in early detection and treatment, as well as numerous studies showing no increased benefit to this procedure in certain circumstances. The most common disease process that this is done for is breast cancer. While the focus of this article will be on breast cancer, it is important to note that sentinel lymph node biopsy and axillary lymphadenectomy can be performed for lung cancer and melanoma as well.