The Relationship Between Drain Removal Day and Breast Weight in Patients with Breast Cancer After Mastectomy: A Retrospective Study

Objective: Surgeries performed for breast cancer often include wide flap practices and breast tissue resections. This condition paves the way for bothersome complications such as seroma, which negatively affect patient comfort and also require hospitalization. Hence, surgeons have adopted postoperative drain application as an indispensable routine. In this study, we aimed to examine the relationship between the weight of resected breast tissue after mastectomy and the postoperative drain removal time. Material and Methods: Retrospective medical records of 107 patients who underwent mastectomy procedures due to breast cancer in the surgical oncology clinic were exported from the hospital database. Statistical analyzes were performed within the confidence interval of 95%. A p value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The mean age of the patients was 55.13, mean body mass index was 28, mean day of drain removal was 8.45, mean number of lymph nodes removed was 12. Only 47% of the patients had metastatic lymph nodes, with an average of 4.6. We found that the time of drain removal was longer in patients who underwent modified radical mastectomy (MRM) and had axillary lymphatic involvement (p=0.00). In the correlation analysis performed, there was a positive correlation between postoperative drain removal time and breast weight (p=0.00), the total number of lymph nodes removed (p=0.00), number of metastatic lymph nodes (p=0.04), and body mass index (p=0.004). Conclusion: Our results are consistent with the current literature, and we recommend being more persistent for drainage practice in patients with axillary involvement, who are overweight and have large breast volumes, and not ignoring individual risks in clinical practice.