Objective: To find out if fibrin adhesive glue applied locally would r
educe the incidence of seroma after modified radical mastectomy for br
east cancer. Design: Prospective randomised study. Setting: City hospi
tal, Sweden. Subjects: 68 women undergoing modified radical mastectomy
with axillary clearance for breast cancer. Main outcome measures: Amo
unt of postoperative drainage, number of seromas aspirated volumes; le
ngth of hospital stay, influence of surgeon operating. Results: Seroma
s developed in a total of 40/68 patients (59%), 23/36 in the fibrin ad
hesive group (64%) and 17/32 in the control group (53%); p = 0.5 (95%
confidence interval of the difference-0.13 to 0.34). There were no sig
nificant differences in the volume of aspirations or in hospital stay.
The skill of the surgeon influenced the incidence of seromas, but the
differences were not significant (p = 0.5). Conclusion: Local applica
tion of a fibrin adhesive glue has no effect on the incidence of serom
a formation after modified radical mastectomy.