Abstract: Objective: To investigate the treatment method for metastatic carcinoma in the axillary lymph node without an obvious primary tumor.Methods: Nineteen female patients who were found to have carcinoma in the axillary lymph node but no obvious primary cancer were analysed.The survival time of the group treated with mastectomy and the group without mastectomy was compared statistical.Results: There was no statistical difference between the survival rate in the two groups(P>0.050).Conclusions: Mastectomy is not necessary for patients with axillary metastatic carcinoma without apparent breast cancer.