Type of Surgery
Information
Last updated: 11/24/2009
Deaths due to breast cancer have declined by 1.4% each year between 1989 and 1995, and by 3.2% each year thereafter. The largest decreases have been among younger women, as a result of cancer education campaigns and early screening, which encourages...
more women to go to their physicians to be checked.
The five-year survival rate for cancers that were confined to the breast was 97% in 2003. For cancers that had spread to areas within the chest region, the rate was 78%, and it is only 23% for cancers occurring in other parts of the body after breast cancer treatment. The best survival rates were for early-stage tumors.
Two 20-year longitudinal studies concluded in 2002 indicated that the survival rate for patients with modified radical mastectomy (the removal of the entire breast and all lymph nodes) was no different from that of breast-conserving lumpectomy (the removal of the tumor alone). Implications of these studies suggest that the removal of the entire breast may not afford greater protection against future cancer than breast-conserving techniques. However, it should be noted that the majority of cancer recurrences occurred within the first five years for both those with mastectomies and those with lumpectomies.
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A modified radical mastectomy is a major surgery used to treat breast cancer. This animation shows which anatomical structures are removed during a modified radical mastectomy and how the procedure is different from other forms of mastectomy (breast removal surgery).
In a simple mastectomy, the skin over the tumor is cut open (A). The tumor and tissue surrounding it are removed (B), and the wound is closed (C). (Illustration by GGS Inc.)
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Simple mastectomy (or "total mastectomy"): In this procedure, the entire breast tissue is removed, but axillary contents are undisturbed. Sometimes the "sentinel lymph node"--that is, the first axillary lymph node that the would be expected to drain into--is removed. This surgery is sometimes done bilaterally (on both breasts) on patients who wish to undergo mastectomy as a cancer-preventative measure. Patients who undergo simple mastectomy can usually leave the hospital after a brief stay. Frequently, a drainage tube is inserted during surgery in their chest and attached to a small suction device to remove subcutaneous fluid. These are usually removed several days after surgery as drainage decrease to less than 20-30 ml per day.
From yhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mastectomy#Types_of_mastectomy
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