Complications of mastectomy for breast cancer in a tertiary care centre in South-west Nigeria

Abstract

Background: An important aspect of the surgical management of breast cancer is loco-regional control which can be accomplished by either breast conservation surgery or mastectomy. Objective: To examine the outcome of the operation of mastectomy with respect to the complications of the procedure. Methods: This is a retrospective study of all the patients who had a mastectomy for breast cancer in a Nigerian tertiary care centre from 1st January 2012 to March 2019. The hospital records of the patients were retrieved. Demographic and relevant clinical characteristics of the patients were extracted. Results: A total of 77 cases were eligible, 76 women and one man. The age range was 28-76 years. Right mastectomy was performed in 54.5% cases. Preoperative comorbiditiesincludedobesity(34%), hypertension (31.2%), anaemia (6.5%) and Diabetes mellitus (7.8%). Modified radical mastectomy was done in 51.9% cases, simple mastectomy in 36.4%, “Toilet Mastectomy”in 9.1%, and mastectomy after breast conservation treatment in 2%. Twenty-eight percent of the cases required a blood transfusion, 31.2% received neoadjuvant chemotherapy while 58.2% had adjuvant therapy. The complications observed included: haemorrhage (7.8%), seroma (9.1%), flap necrosis (9.1%) andtumourrecurrence (7.8%). As at the time of the report, 41.6 % were alive, 19.4% were dead and 39.0% were lost to follow-up. Conclusion:The complications of mastectomy were mostly haemorrhage, seroma,and flap necrosis, similar to previous reports from other parts of the world.