ABSTRACT
Postmastectomy lymphedema is a possibility in all women who undergo mastectomy that includes axillary lymphatic dissection. Indeed, all patients initially have some degree of immediate, postsurgical edema. Fortunately this clears mainly because the flow of lymph out of the affected upper extremity is usually still within the capacity of the remaining lymphatic channels after the unavoidable edema of trauma due to the surgery. Lymphedema occurs whenever the total lymphatic outflow tract from the given part is incapable of clearing the lymphatic fluid load from the extravascular space of that part. In doing the examination on a patient with postmastectomy edema, one must remember that some nerves going to the inner arm and forearm are severed, making it not uncommon for the patient to be unaware of an existing infection. This is particularly true if the degree of immobility at the shoulder joint has made the patient keep her arm close to her chest wall.
