Breast Cancer Surgery

For the last 20 years, breast cancer has been found in most women worldwide. Breast cancer is a type of cancer that seriously affects women’s lives and causes the death of the patient when not intervened.

Is Breast Cancer Treatable?

Today, with the development of technology, many deadly diseases are treated. Breast cancer is a treatable disease with early diagnosis and diagnosis, as in many types of cancer. If the cancer mass in the breast has not spread through lymph and blood, it is treated with early intervention.  Various methods are used in Breast Surgery to remove the cancerous structure in the breast.

What is Breast Surgery and Which Methods are Used in Breast Surgery?

It is an advanced speciality applied for the treatment of breast cancer. It is aimed to remove the cancerous structure with various techniques and methods by specialist surgeons. In breast surgery, diseases that require surgical intervention are treated.

The methods used in breast surgery today can be listed as follows:

Partial removal of the breast (breast conserving surgery)

Removal of the breast (mastectomy)

Complete removal of the breast by preserving the breast skin and shaping the breast with fat tissue transplantation from the patient herself or special fillers into the breast skin

Breast repair after removal of the breast and completion of treatments (chemotherapy-radiotherapy)

Sentinel (guard) lymph node sampling

Mastectomy

Mastectomy is the complete removal of the breast. With this operation, all breast tissues and sometimes even nearby tissues are removed.

Simple mastectomy: This procedure is also called total mastectomy. The entire breast, including the nipples, is removed, but the underarm lymph nodes or muscle tissues under the breast are not removed.

Skin-sparing mastectomy: In some female patients, the breast can be reconstructed during surgery. This procedure is called skin-sparing mastectomy. It is the generally preferred treatment method. It also includes aesthetic surgery.

Modified Radical Mastectomy: With this method, armpit lymph nodes are removed during simple mastectomy.

Radical Mastectomy: In this large-scale operation, the entire breast, axillary lymph nodes and pectoral (chest wall) muscles under the breast are removed. It is not preferred very much today.

Breast Conserving Surgery

Breast-conserving surgery is sometimes referred to as partial (segmental) mastectomy. In this surgery, only the affected part of the breast is removed.

In lumpectomy, only the mass in the breast and the surrounding tissues are removed.

In a quadrantectomy, one quarter of the breast is removed. After these treatments, the patient usually undergoes radiotherapy.

Lymph node biopsy: The lymph nodes are examined with a lymph node biopsy and a lymph node biopsy is performed during surgery to determine whether the cancer has spread to the lymph nodes.

Lymph node surgery: If a tumour is detected in the lymph nodes after a lymph node biopsy, the breast tissue and lymph nodes are removed under the supervision of a specialist surgeon.

Which doctor should I see for a clinical examination of the breast?

Breast diseases and treatment are performed by general surgery specialists. Going to a general surgeon or a breast surgeon for clinical examination of the breast is the first step to correct diagnosis and treatment.

Today, a multidisciplinary treatment process is applied in breast surgery. Breast surgery also works together with general surgery, aesthetic surgery and radiotherapy.