What is Mastectomy.

Mastectomy is partial or complete surgical removal of one or both the breasts. It is done to treat breast cancer and rarely some high risk breast cancer women and men choose to have it done prophylactically.

Lumpectomy is a conservative local surgery for breast cancer in which only the tumor is removed while mastectomy is more radical in the sense that usually the whole breast including the nipple and the areola is removed.

Sometimes making a choice between lumpectomy and breast mastectomy is difficult. Nowadays mastectomy is done while preserving the skin of the breast and breast reconstruction surgery can also be done during breast mastectomy or after it.

Indications for Mastectomy|When Mastectomy is Preferred over Lumpectomy.

• Male patients with breast cancer.

• Big sized breast tumor in a relatively small breast where lumpectomy would leave very little breast tissue.
• Women with tumor larger than 5 cms.
• Women in whom complete removal of tumor was not possible with lumpectomy.
• If the patient does not want to undergo radiation which is required after lumpectomy.
• Non availability of radiation facility.
• Aggressive grade of cancer.
• Where the patient does not want to live with anxiety of recurrence after lumpectomy.
• Where more than one tumor are present in the same breast.
• Inflammatory breast cancer.
• Paget’s disease of the breast. (a rare form of breast cancer involving the nipple and the areola).
• Local breast cancer recurrence.
• Pregnant women in whom radiation is contraindicated due to pregnancy.
• High risk women who have tested positively for mutated BRCA genes and opt for prophylaxisis.

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