WHAT IS BREAST CONSERVING SURGERY?
Breast-conserving surgery, also called lumpectomy or wide local excision, involves the removal of the tumor with a rim of normal tissue. There are a variety of techniques that can be used to reshape the breast and preserve its appearance after the tumor is removed, known as Oncoplastic breast surgery.
Breast-conserving surgery is recommended if the cancer is small compared to the size of your breast. It is almost always combined with radiotherapy.
Research has shown that breast-conserving surgery followed by radiotherapy is as effective as mastectomy in treating early breast cancer. The chance of the cancer coming back in another part of the body is the same with either type of surgery.
WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES OF BREAST-CONSERVING SURGERY?
• Your breast is left in place and your appearance will not be changed as much as it would be following a mastectomy.
• It also won’t have mastectomy complications.
WHAT ARE THE DISADVANTAGES OF BREAST-CONSERVING SURGERY?
• You may require further surgery if the initial operation does not completely remove all the cancer (positive margins).
• Radiotherapy is almost always recommended after breast conservation surgery. It involves going to the hospital for daily treatment for 3 to 6 weeks.
• Your breast will look different. How different it looks depends on the size and location of the cancer and the size and shape of your breast. Your treated breast may be slightly larger and heavier than your other breast or it may become smaller over time. This is due to a combination of surgery and radiotherapy and the effect is difficult to predict.
