What is breast cancer surgery?

Surgery is a key part of treatment for breast cancer. The type of surgery you have depends on the size, location, and type of the cancer. It also depends on your health and what is important to you.

Your doctor may combine treatments. This is a common way to treat breast cancer. You may have surgery to remove the cancer. After surgery you may need other treatments, such as radiation or endocrine therapy.

During the surgery, the doctor may remove lymph nodes from the armpit. The lymph nodes will be looked at under a microscope. This is used to check if cancer has spread from the breast into the lymph nodes.

• Surgery that does not remove the whole breast is called breast-conserving surgery (lumpectomy). It removes the tumor in the breast and a small amount of normal tissue around it. It is also called a partial mastectomy.
• Surgeries to remove the whole breast are called:
  • Total mastectomy. This removes the whole breast, including the nipple.
  • Nipple-sparing mastectomy. This removes the whole breast but leaves the nipple.
  • Modified radical mastectomy. This removes the whole breast and the lymph nodes under the arm (axillary lymph nodes).
  • Radical mastectomy. This removes the whole breast, the chest muscles under the breast, and all the lymph nodes under the arm.

During the surgery, the doctor may remove lymph nodes from the armpit. The lymph nodes will be looked at under a microscope. This is used to check if cancer has spread from the breast into the lymph nodes. There are two types of lymph node surgery:

• Axillary lymph node dissection. This removes some or all of the lymph nodes in the armpit.
• Sentinel lymph node biopsy. This removes the lymph nodes that are the first to receive lymph fluid from the tumor. If the sentinel nodes don’t contain cancer, it is unlikely that the cancer has spread. Then the doctor won’t remove any more lymph nodes. If there is cancer in the sentinel nodes, the doctor may remove other nearby lymph nodes.