Vascular disorders after axillary surgery

a literature review

Abstract

Introduction: Breast cancer is considered a public health problem. In Brazil, as still predominate in advanced diagnostics, extensive surgery and axillary dissections are still widely used. Such procedures may lead to a variety of clinical problems, normally related to the etiology vascular, with functional impact. Objectives: To analyze the linfovasculares changes under histopathological, anatomical, functional and lymphoscintigraphic aspects, resulting from the surgical approach of the axilla. Methods: The literature review was performed from the databases LILACS, PubMed and BIREME, by DeCS/MeSH. The search was made between the months September-October 2011. Results: The studies that assessed the histopathological aspects had thrombosis of lymphatic vessels as found in common. In those studies that evaluated aspects lymphoscintigraphic, evidenced the presence of a retrograde lymphatic flow, besides the appearance of collateral lymphatic pathways shown by lymphoscintigraphy. Another study that evaluated the functional aspects, noted that the uptake of the radiopharmaceutical used, in the armpit, was slower in patients with axillary lymph node dissection in situations of rest and exercise. Conclusions: Most studies attest important vascular changes that take place after surgery of axilla in all aspects analyzed. Such changes may persist for years, resulting in clinical disorders such apparent strength deficit, lymphedema, axillary web syndrome, among others, which origins in the vascular system, still require further attention.