What is mastectomy surgery?

One of the preventive or therapeutic methods to deal with breast cancer is mastectomy. In some cases where the extent of the malignant tumor is small, the surgeon can prioritize the removal of the cancerous mass to preserve the breast tissue. Choosing between breast lumpectomy (breast conserving) or total breast removal is very difficult. Because this choice affects the patient's health and life. Breast conservation in patients with malignant breast tumor is a conservative practice. No doctor recommends this procedure in women just to maintain the beauty of the person.

In new techniques after mastectomy, different methods are used to maintain the appearance of the breast. The process of restoring or restoring the breast after mastectomy is breast reconstruction. This operation can be performed at the same time as the breast evacuation surgery or in the later stages of the treatment. The success rate of breast cancer surgery has a significant impact on saving women's lives. In about 80% of women who have timely breast removal, the patient with cancer can continue to live more than 10 years after the operation.

 

Reasons for breast evacuation surgery

As we said, breast evacuation surgery is performed in patients with malignant breast tumor. But the surgeon decides to perform this operation when the patient is in one of the following conditions:

When the deterioration of the disease is so great that the patient cannot be treated through a conservative method or lumpectomy surgery and through preservation of breast tissue. There is no alternative to mastectomy in people whose breast cancer is very extensive or the center of the breast is involved in cancer, and in people who have tumors in both breasts.

In people who have failed radiotherapy or radiation therapy for any reason, the only choice is to drain the breast. You should know that it is not possible to use To prevent the spread of the malignant tumor to other parts of the body, the surgeon prioritizes breast drainage.

In cases where the patient has a family history of a malignant breast tumor and the probability of the patient being infected is very high, the surgeon recommends mastectomy to prevent the occurrence of cancer in the breast. At this stage, people whose cancer genes are BRCA1 and BRCA2 are prioritized for breast removal. In addition, in people with inflammatory breast cancer or Paget's disease, the only radiotherapy in people who, in addition to cancer, have other diseases such as lupus or connective tissue disease such as scleroderma. treatment is to drain both breasts.

Breast removal or mastectomy procedures

Due to the fact that the location and extent of the tumor in people with breast cancer are different from each other, the same methods cannot be used for mastectomy in different patients. This has made it necessary to create different surgical methods. Types of mastectomy are:

Complete or simple surgery

In total mastectomy, the patient's breast will be completely removed. All parts of the nipple, the halo around it, most of the skin of the breast and the fascia around the mammary muscle are evacuated during this operation. In some patients, depending on the results of the biopsy and the surgeon's diagnosis, the removal of some lymph nodes may also be prioritized. Most of the women who have to undergo total surgery to maintain their health are allowed to be discharged one day after the operation.

Modified radical mastectomy

The implementation of this method is very similar to total surgery. The main difference between this method and total surgery is that in addition to removing the skin, muscle and breast tissue, it is necessary to remove part of the armpit muscles and lymph nodes during the operation.

Radical surgery

Due to the fact that we see the expansion of the cancerous mass in most women, this method is rarely used to treat breast cancer in women. This surgery included the removal of the pectoralis major muscle, lymph nodes and the entire breast tissue. Radical surgery was considered the only way to treat breast cancer until advances in medical science found a suitable alternative for breast cancer treatment. But due to fewer complications and better results in new methods (modified radical surgery), this operation became less frequent.

Mastectomy surgery to protect the skin of the breast

In this method, to treat cancer, a small part of the breast or its tip is removed and the rest of the body tissue remains. This treatment is the best option for removing a cancerous mass from the chest. In most cases, when the surgeon decides to perform other treatment methods immediately after breast evacuation, this method is considered the best option.

Because this surgery leaves a much smaller scar and the breasts look normal; Most women with malignant breast tumors choose to do this procedure. But don't forget that skin-sparing surgery will be impossible in patients whose cancerous mass is located close to the skin or is very large.

Partial or incomplete surgery

The question that most clients ask when they hear the name of partial surgery is how is partial surgery different from other mastectomy methods? In answer to this question, you should know that partial surgery is actually the same lumpectomy method. In patients whose cancerous tissue or mass is less than 4 cm and separately, it is possible to extract that breast tissue. Only in these cases, the surgeon recommends using the partial method for treatment.

Nipple conserving surgery

In these patients, all the breast tissue is removed, but the nipple and areola are preserved. It will be necessary to perform reconstructive surgeries after the operation in these patients. In this method, the surgeon removes the breast tissue that is located directly under the areola and nipple and sends it to histopathology for further investigations. If the results show that the cancerous mass has not developed in other parts, it will be possible to perform this procedure. Otherwise, the surgeon prioritizes the complete removal method.