WOMAN DIAGNOSED WITH BREAST CANCER

The most common reason for a mastectomy is breast cancer.

If you are diagnosed with breast cancer, talk to your doctor about your choices:

• Lumpectomy is when only the breast cancer and tissue around the cancer are removed. This is also called breast conservation therapy or partial mastectomy. Part of your breast will be left.
• Mastectomy is when all breast tissue is removed. Mastectomy is a better choice if the area of cancer is too large to remove without deforming the breast.

You and your doctor should consider:

• The size of your tumor, where in your breast it is located, whether you have more than one tumor in your breast, how much of your breast the cancer affects, and the size of your breasts
• Your age, family history, overall health, and whether you have reached menopause

The choice of what is best for you can be difficult. Sometimes, it is hard to know whether lumpectomy or mastectomy is best. You and the health care providers who are treating your breast cancer will decide together what is best.

WOMEN AT HIGH RISK FOR BREAST CANCER

Women who have a very high risk of developing breast cancer may choose to have a prophylactic mastectomy. Your doctor may do either a subcutaneous or total mastectomy to reduce your risk of breast cancer if you are at very high risk for developing breast cancer. This is called prophylactic mastectomy.

You may have a higher risk of getting breast cancer if one or more close family relatives has had breast cancer, especially at an early age. Genetic tests (such as BRCA1 or BRCA2) may also show you have a high risk. This surgery should be done only after very careful thought and discussion with your doctor, a genetic counselor, your family, and others.

Mastectomy greatly reduces, but does not eliminate, the risk of breast cancer.

You may have many blood and imaging tests (such as CT scans, bone scans, and chest x-ray) after your doctor finds breast cancer. Your surgeon will want to know whether your cancer has spread to the lymph nodes, liver, lungs, bones, or somewhere else.

Always tell your doctor or nurse if:

• You could be pregnant
• You are taking any drugs or herbs you bought without a prescription

Images

Female breast

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Mastectomy Risks

Review Date: 01/28/2011
Reviewed By: Debra G. Wechter, MD, FACS, General Surgery practice specializing in breast cancer, Virginia Mason Medical Center, Seattle, Washington. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org)