Mastectomy

For a long time, a procedure called a radical mastectomy was the only treatment available to women with breast cancer. No matter what stage of breast cancer you had, mastectomy was your only option. Catching a cancer early didn't give you the benefit of having a less radical, more cosmetically acceptable treatment option. Things have changed a great deal since then. Mastectomy no longer has to be as extensive, scarring, or disfiguring.

Mastectomy can actually be different operations for different people, in different situations.

In case of simple or total mastectomy, the surgeon removes the entire breast but does not take out any axillary lymph nodes(nodes in the underarm area). No muscles are removed from breast.

Further you may ask when to opt for mastectomy?

Mastectomy may be opted when:
- Cancer is found in more than one part of your breast.
- Your breast is small or in shaped so that a lumpectomy would leave with very little breast tissue or very deformed breast.
After mastectomy radiation may be recommended if:
- the tumor is larger than 5cm.
- removed tissue has a positive margin of resection.
- Cancer is multicentered i.e. it occurred in a number of locations within the breast.

Mastectomy also has certain drawbacks like:
- the surgery is longer and more extensive, with more post-surgery side effects.
- The surgery means a permanent loss of your breast.

Shankar Mahanti for http://www.yourfreehealthreport.com/

Copyright 2006 yourfreehealthreport.com/symptoms