Forequarter amputation for recurrent breast cancer: a case report and review of the literature.

Axillary recurrence of breast cancer is an uncommon event that can lead to debilitating pain, lymphedema, and paralysis of the upper extremity. Multimodality therapy including surgery is usually used to control local recurrence. In a subset of patients, the extent of disease is such that local excision of the recurrence is not possible. In the absence of metastatic disease, forequarter amputation may be used as an effective means of surgical salvage and palliation for locally recurrent breast cancer. In this report, we describe management of a patient with advanced axillary recurrence treated with forequarter amputation and review the current literature on the use of this operation in breast cancer patients. (c) 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc.