Breast cancer surgery is a method used to treat people with breast cancer. In addition to chemotherapy and radiotherapy, patients may also undergo surgery to remove the tumor from the breast.
There are two types of breast cancer surgery: breast conserving surgery and mastectomy.
Breast Conserving Surgery
Breast conserving surgery is a surgical procedure to remove the cancer-causing tumor. In this surgery, the tumor is removed from the patient's chest. How the surgery will go and how much damage the breast will be depends entirely on the structure and size of the tumor. Breast conserving surgery has two separate procedures.
Lumpectomy
In this procedure, only the tumor is removed from the patient's chest and the surrounding tissue is not damaged. The surgery can be performed by manual surgery or with the help of a robot. Many patients continue radiotherapy after lumpectomy. Some patients need chemotherapy before radiotherapy.
Mastectomy Surgery
It is an operation in which one breast or both breasts are removed. Mastectomy has five separate procedures.
Simple Mastectomy: In this procedure, the entire breast and nipple are removed. However, the surrounding tissues and breast muscle tissue are not removed.
Skin-Sparing Mastectomy: The nipple and its circumference are removed, the skin on the breast surface is preserved. The patient can then undergo plastic surgery.
Nipple Sparing Mastectomy: The breast tissue is removed, but the nipple and breast skin are not removed. It is performed for patients who do not show any signs of cancer in the breast skin and in the area close to the breast surface. Nipple-sparing mastectomy can be done in the early stages of cancer. The patient can then undergo plastic surgery.
Modified Radical Mastectomy: In addition to the breast tissue, the lymph nodes under the arm are also removed.
Quadranectomy: In this procedure, the problematic breast tissue should be removed as well as the tumor. Approximately 1 in 4 of the breast is removed. The removed tissue is checked after the surgery and if there are cancerous cells on the edges, the patient is considered to have a positive margin and may need to be operated a second time. In quadrantectomy, chemotherapy and radiotherapy are continued after the operation. Quadrantectomy is one of the most effective treatments for patients with level one and level two breast cancer.
Radical Mastectomy: Radical mastectomy is a large-scale operation. The entire breast, lymph nodes and pectoral muscles under the breast are removed.
