Axilla is the medical term for the armpit. Axillary surgery can tell surgeons what stage your cancer has reached because breast cancers can spread to the lymph nodes, or glands, in the armpit.
By examining your lymph nodes, specialists can decide what treatment – if any – to recommend to you. If your lymph nodes are clear you probably won’t need further surgery or radiotherapy on your armpit.
Checking the lymph nodes
To discover if cells have reached your lymph nodes, doctors will carry out a sentinel node biopsy or node sampling.
Sentinel node biopsy
When breast cancer cells spread, the first place they reach is the sentinel node. If this biopsy, a newer technique, shows that the sentinel node is not affected, it’s extremely unlikely that the cells have reached any of the other axillary lymph nodes either.
You can learn more about the sentinel node biopsy in our Best Treatment Guides:
The Best Treatment: Your guide to breast cancer treatment in England & Wales (1360 kb) ![[pdf]](http://breakthrough.org.uk/display_images/document_icons/pdf.gif){kind=icon}
The Best Treatment: Your guide to breast cancer treatment in Scotland (1030 kb)
Node sampling
This involves removing at least four lymph nodes and checking them for cancer. If none is found, it’s unlikely that the disease has spread to any other axillary nodes.
If lymph nodes in the armpit are affected, doctors will recommend either axillary node clearance - surgery to remove all remaining lymph nodes in the armpit - or radiotherapy to the area.
Lymph nodes help drain excess fluids out of the arm. Removing them can, in some cases, lead to lymphoedema, a condition which causes the arm to swell painfully. This is why surgeons usually check for cancer spread before removing lymph nodes.
