- Surgery of the breast and axilla

The blood supply of the breast is mainly from branches of the internal thoracic (mammary) artery and the intercostal arteries, which pierce the intercostal muscles, and laterally from branches of the lateral thoracic artery. The lymphatic drainage is 85 per cent to the axillary lymph nodes and 15 per cent to the internal thoracic nodes (Figure 3.1).