Disclosures: Matthew Tay: No financial relationships or conflicts of interest

Objective: To investigate the prevalence and associations of axillary web syndrome (AWS) in post-operative breast cancer patients up to 5 years after surgery, who are attending an outpatient rehabilitation center.

Design: Cross sectional observational studySetting : National cancer rehabilitation centerParticipants : 132 Asian women who had undergone breast surgery and referred to a national outpatient rehabilitation center.

Interventions: None.

Main Outcome Measures: Prevalence and associations of AWS.

Results: The prevalence of AWS in this population was 24.3%. The majority of patients presented at 1 and 2 years post surgery (34.1% for both groups), though there were 42 patients (31.2%) who presented 3-5 years post surgery. The majority of patients had simple mastectomy without reconstruction (52.3%), and also received adjunctive chemotherapy (75.8%) and radiotherapy (62.1%). Most patients either had stage I (43.2%) or II (51.5%) breast cancer. Among the patients, the prevalence of AWS in women who underwent SLNB was 11.8%, while the prevalence in those who underwent ALND was 34.2%. In the multivariate regression model analyzing associations with AWS, significant factors were age < 50 years (OR = 3.70; 95% CI = 1.36-9.82; p = 0.010) and ALND (OR = 3.73; 95% CI = 1.45-9.63; p = 0.006). There was also reduced shoulder flexion ROM (p < 0.001) and abduction ROM (p=0.044) in the patients with AWS compared to patients without AWS.Conclusions: Our findings highlight the need to identify breast cancer survivors with AWS even in the survivorship phase, and develop strategies to raise awareness and minimize functional impairment in these patients.

Level of Evidence: Level II

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PM&R Meeting Abstracts - https://pmrjabstracts.org/abstract/axillary-web-syndrome-in-asian-women-after-breast-cancer-surgery/