A new U.S. study has found that women with early-stage breast cancer may not need radical surgery to remove the lymph nodes under the armpit, reports the Daily Mail. The study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association may help thousands of women avoid the pain and side effects associated with this surgery.
Researchers at California’s Saint John’s Health Center analyzed the two procedures in 850 women with invasive breast cancer who had their tumours removed and underwent radiation and chemotherapy.
They discovered that women who only had their sentinel lymph node removed – the one closest to the cancer – survived just as long as the women who had undergone more radical surgery to remove lymph nodes in the armpit.
The team concluded that removing cancerous lymph nodes may be unnecessary since radiation and chemotherapy attacks cancers in the lymph nodes before they have time to spread.
“This is really a move toward less radical surgery for breast cancer patients,” said study author Dr Armando Giuliano. Removal of the lymph nodes is associated with complications like infection, chronic pain, and swelling of the arm.