Breast removal surgery

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Breast removal surgery in medicine is mastectomy. A Mastectomy is the surgical removal of the entire breast, usually to treat serious breast disease, such as breast cancer.



In some cases, women and some men believed to be at high risk of breast cancer have the operation prophylactically, that is, to prevent cancer rather than treat it. It is also the medical procedure carried out to remove breast cancer tissue in males.


A woman may decide to have a mastectomy versus a lumpectomy based on the following:
* If the tumor is big and, after the lumpectomy, very little breast tissue would remain
* If she does not want to undergo radiation therapy after the surgery
* If she believes she will have less anxiety about a recurrence of breast cancer with a mastectomy (source )


Alternatively, certain patients can choose to have a wide local excision, also known as a lumpectomy, an operation in which a small volume of breast tissue containing the tumor and some surrounding healthy tissue is removed to conserve the breast. Both mastectomy and lumpectomy are what are referred to as "local therapies" for breast cancer, targeting the area of the tumor, as opposed to systemic therapies such as chemotherapy, hormonal therapy, or immunotherapy.

Types of Mastectomy
There are four general types of mastectomy:
1. A SUBCUTANEOUS MASTECTOMY removes the entire breast, but leaves the nipple and areola (the pigmented circle around the nipple) in place.
2. TOTAL (OR SIMPLE) MASTECTOMY is the removal of the whole breast, but not the lymph nodes under the arm (axillary nodes)
3. In a MODIFIED RADICAL MASTECTOMY, the whole breast and most of the lymph nodes under the arm (axillary nodes) are removed. Removal of these lymph nodes is called an axillary dissection
4. RADICAL MASTECTOMY involves removal of the chest wall muscles (pectorals) in addition to the breast and axillary lymph nodes. For many years, this operation was considered the standard for women with breast cancer, but it is rarely used today. It is mostly of historical interest. source

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