Breast Cancer Theraputic Surgery Options

This kind of surgery is minimally invasive and is considered to be a breast conserving procedure. Your surgeon’s task will be to remove the lump itself, and a margin of tissue, which surrounds the lump. A surgeon will work by feel, and on information that is included in your mammogram or ultrasound report. My surgeon remarked that “cancer is very hard, sort of like a raw carrot” and that he guided his scalpel just outside of that hard area, to be sure that he had removed the whole tumor. Your surgeon may mention that getting “clear margins” around the tumor is important, and that is why a bit more than just the cancer must be removed. Since a tumor typically has bumpy, or speculated surfaces which may be trying to branch out and spread, the surgeon will want to be sure that when the tumor is removed, no bits of the tentacles or outer bumps are left in the breast tissue, only to cause another occurrence of cancer.

Depending on how much tissue is removed, you may not need a prosthesis, or extra padding, in a bra, after you’ve recovered from a lumpectomy. Your body will generate some scar tissue in the surgery area, which will fill in the place where the lump was. This will change the texture of your breast somewhat, and this area will show up on future mammograms as different from the undisturbed breast tissue. You will have a scar on the skin where your incision was made, but with good care, this will fade into a small line that is just a bit lighter that the surrounding skin. Ask your surgeon or family doctor how you can take the best care of the incision and promote healing.