Abstract

Axillary nodal status was reviewed retrospectively in 306 patients with carcinoma of the breast who underwent radical mastectomy. An average of 24.5 lymph nodes were dissected per patient. The average number of nodes tended to decrease with age. Metastatic nodes were found to be higher in patients younger than 50 years. The central group contained 48.1% of the total number of nodes and 70.2% of the metastatic nodes. The apical group contained 14.9% of the nodes and 8.3% of the metastatic nodes and 2.7% of the nodes were dissected from the interpectoral group of nodes. Either the apex or the interpectoral group contained metastatic nodes in 20.5% of the node positive patients. There was no isolated apical or interpectoral lymph node metastasis. The clinical and pathological stages differed in 35.3% of the patients.