Breast Cancer Surgery

Certainly breast cancer surgery where the tumor is removed is often the best form of treatment for breast cancer.  However, today women can choose from several surgery options and choices for their treatment of the cancer.  But the type of breast surgery that will be performed on a patient depends on the location and size of the tumor found, what stage the cancer is at, the size of the patients breast, and last but not least the patient’s own preference.

Some of the breast cancer surgery options available involve the conservation of the patient’s breast whilst others are used to remove the breast entirely.  A doctor will provide his patient with information explaining the advantages and disadvantages of each type of surgery option available to them.

Where breast conservation surgery is concerned there are two basic options that allow the conservation of a patient’s breast tissue.

The first is a lumpectomy which involves removing the cancerous tumor and part of the tissue around it.  You may also find that some surgeons will remove some of a patients underarm lymph nodes to check to make sure that the cancer has not spread outside the breast also.  The lymph nodes which are also known as axillary nodes receive the lymphatic vessels from the neck, upper arm, most of the breast and the underarm areas of the body.  Often breast cancer can spread to the axillary lymph nodes and will then enter into the lymphatic system and can the spread further to other organs and tissues in the body.  You may find that radiation therapy is used after a lumpectomy to help kill the remaining cancer cells in other parts of the patient’s body.

A partial mastectomy is often carried out by a surgeon to remove a tumor as well as a large area of the surrounding tissue.  You may even find that some surgeons will also remove part of the patient’s chest muscles which are underneath the tumor as well as some axillary lymph nodes.  As with a lumpectomy, lymph nodes are removed during a partial mastectomy to determine whether the cancer has spread to other areas of the body outside the breast.

A mastectomy is a form of breast cancer surgery which does not conserve any of the patient’s breast tissue and involves the complete removal of the breast.  In some cases of breast cancer the conversation of the patient’s breast during surgery is not possible and a mastectomy will only be recommended in certain situations as follows

1. When the cancer has affected other parts of the patient’s breast or the axillary lymph nodes.
2. When the woman has very small breasts and conservation breast surgery would in the case of some patients caused deformed breasts.

There are several types of mastectomy that can be carried out and the surgeon treating the patient will explain the advantages and disadvantages of each type available.
However below is information on the various mastectomies available, but which the surgeon will provide the patient with the advantages and disadvantages of each form of surgery in more depth.
A total mastectomy is the complete removal of the patient’s entire breast along with some of the axillary lymph nodes.

A modified radical mastectomy is also the complete removal of patient’s entire breast but also some of the underarm lymph nodes as well as part the chest muscles will be removed as well.

Then there is the radical mastectomy which involves the complete removal of the breast as well as all the underarm lymph nodes and chest muscles.  However, this type of surgery is only performed in very severe cases when the cancer has actually spread to the patient’s chest muscles as well.

When a patient is diagnosed with cancer and is in the early stages then a lumpectomy is often the first option available to the surgeon along with other non-surgical procedures that can be used.  Certainly if the disease is discovered in the early stages there is more chance of the patient being treated with less radical and more effective breast cancer surgery to cure it than if discovered in the later stages.