According to the best breast cancer doctor in Kolkata, if you have localised breast cancer, you will most likely be recommended surgery. Below, we will look at the different types of breast cancer surgery.
Types of breast cancer surgery
The following surgeries are performed for breast cancer treatment.
1. Mastectomy
In a mastectomy, the entire breast is removed. It is one of the top types of surgery used to treat breast cancer in both the early and late stages. Different types of mastectomy include double mastectomy, total mastectomy, skin and nipple-sparing mastectomy, radical mastectomy, and modified radical mastectomy.
For a total mastectomy, the entire breast gets removed while keeping the chest muscle below intact.
Double mastectomy removes both of your breasts, and it’s done if cancer spreads to both breasts.
Nipple-sparing mastectomy removes the breast tissue while keeping the skin intact to reconstruct the breast.
In case breast cancer has infiltrated the chest muscles, a radical mastectomy is done to remove the breast, chest muscles, and underarm lymph nodes.
A modified radical mastectomy removes the underarm lymph nodes with the breast tissue when the cancer first spreads to the lymph nodes.
2. Reconstructive breast surgery
To restore the shape of your breast following a mastectomy or a lumpectomy, you can get reconstructive breast surgery. The best breast cancer doctor can reconstruct your breast with the help of plastic surgery right after your breast cancer surgery. Or, they can perform this surgery at a later period after you are done with your chemotherapy. Reconstructive breast surgeries are described below.
Nipple reconstruction surgery is done if you have a lumpectomy or nipple-sparing mastectomy, where the surgeon will have the preserved nipple to use during your nipple reconstruction surgery.
Breast implant replaces your removed breast tissue to restore the volume and shape of your breast.
In a flap or autologous reconstruction surgery, tissue is taken from any other part of your body to reconstruct the breast.
3. Lymph node dissection
As the cancer first spreads to your lymph nodes, it can be a warning that it may go beyond the breast. Your surgeon might analyze and remove several lymph nodes under the arm next to the affected breast. To detect if cancer has spread to the lymph nodes and the sentinel lymph node, a biopsy is performed. In addition, if the former comes back positive, an axillary lymph node dissection will be performed.
4. Lumpectomy
It is also known as breast-conserving surgery, where the surgeon removes a part of the breast tissue. This breast cancer surgery is used for the treatment of early-stage breast cancer, where they remove just the lump and the tumour from the breast.
We have discussed the different kinds of breast cancer surgery. You can consult with the breast cancer doctor to know which surgery will be more suitable for you.
