الفهرس 
Anatomy of the BreastOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Summary and Conclusion
Breast carcinoma is a major health issue in modern
society. The National Cancer Institute in the USA estimates
that 12.7% of women born today will be diagnosed with breast
carcinoma during the course of their lifetime. Breast
carcinoma can impact patients psychologically as well as
organically, which can manifest as post mastectomy
depression, increased anxiety, shame and occasional ideas of
suicide.
Breast carcinoma is usually treated with surgery,
chemotherapy or radiation, or both. Treatment is given with
increasing aggressiveness according to the prognosis and risk
of recurrence.
Seroma is formed by acute inflammatory exudates in
response to surgical trauma and acute phase of wound healing.
Extensive dissection in mastectomy and axillary
lymphadenectomy damage several blood vessels and
lymphatics with subsequent oozing of blood and lymphatic
fluid from a larger raw surface area (when compared with
breast-conserving procedures) leads to seroma formation.
Fluid accumulation elevates the flaps from the chest wall and
axilla thereby hampering their adherence to the chest wall bed
and delay healing.
Seroma and prolonged, excessive drainage of serous
fluid constitute the most common complications after
Summary and Conclusion
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mastectomy for breast carcinoma. The reported incidence of
seroma formation varies between 15 and 81%.
Seroma formation increases the risk of post operative
complications; delays wound healing, ceullitis, increases
susceptibility to infection, skin flap necrosis, persistent pain
and wound dehiscence and prolongs convalescence
Ideal wound closure should minimize lymph spillage
and serum oozing, provide a means of holding skin flaps
securely to the chest wall structures, obliterate dead space, and
allow rapid removal of fluid as it forms. For this, several
techniques of flap fixation or wound drainage, as well as
limitation of postoperative shoulder movement and the use of
adhesive glue, have been investigated to improve primary
healing and minimize seroma formation.
The findings of the literature review and based on our
experience, it is suggested that the flap fixation technique is a
valuable procedure that significantly decrease the total amount
of drained fluid, allowing the earlier removal of the drains as
well as decreasing the incidence of seroma formation, and the
need for frequent visits for seroma fluid aspiration after
mastectomy. However, this technique should be tried on a
much wider scale to prove its validity in decreasing the
incidence of seroma formation and its subsequent
complications, so that it can be introduced as a step in the
mastectomy operations.