News

  • High Risk Individuals
    • Breast Cancer Survival Gene
      14/04/2010
      QIMR researchers, as part of an international collaboration, have found that a gene that is most commonly associated with skin pigmentation, hair and eye colour may influence a patient's chances of surviving cancer.
      ...more
    • Research News NBCF!
      12/04/2010
      Researchers at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute have discovered that breast stem cells are exquisitely sensitive to the female hormones oestrogen and progesterone....
      ...more
    • Should Genes be patented
      5/02/2010
      The lawsuit challenges the government's granting of control of patents on BRCA1 and BRCA2 to Myriad Genetics (USA).
      ...more

Types of Mastectomies

Breast surgery (mastectomy) is usually the primary treatment for women diagnosed with breast cancer or preventive breast cancer surgery.
Surgery for breast cancer involves one of the following:
  • Breast conserving surgery: surgery to remove the breast cancer and a small area of healthy tissue around it. This is also called a lumpectomy, complete local excision, or wide local excision.
  • Mastectomy: surgery to remove the whole breast.
There are several subtypes of simple or total mastectomy depending on how much skin is removed.
  • Traditional: The surgeon removes an ellipse of skin that includes the skin of the nipple/areola complex. This is the most commonly performed mastectomy. If the woman doesn't want immediate reconstruction or is not offered immediate reconstruction, the end result is a flat chest with a scar about 8 inches in length, usually oriented transversely.
  • Skin-sparing: In addition to the breast tissue as noted, the only skin removed is that of the nipple and areola, usually through a circular incision around the areola. If the breast is large, the surgeon may have to make a "keyhole" incision (one that includes a straight incision in one direction, generally down) to allow removal of the breast tissue.
  • Nipple-sparing: The surgeon makes an incision around the nipple but leaves the areola intact. Again, in order to remove all of the breast tissue, the incision will need to be bigger than what is achieved with removal of the nipple. This is often an S-shaped incision.
  • Total skin-sparing: The surgeon removes the breast tissue but leaves all the skin (including the skin of the nipple and areola) behind. The incision can be place in the outer part of the breast, in the inframammary fold or around the areola.

Pink Hope does not provide medical advice. Please refer to our Disclaimer for more information.

For further information on breast surgery go to http://www.nbcc.org.au/hsd/surgery.php