No individual wants to have surgery. Fortunately, breast cancer surgery today is more cancer specific than in the past. This leads to individuals to having less scars and being able to quickly recover, while simultaneously providing effective treatment to lower the odds that cancer will recur.

Tools used to diagnose cancer are now more precise because the disease is understood on a greater level. Normal methods still largely apply, but they aren’t automatically used. Each case of cancer is different and analyzed differently. Breast cancer patients now have choices and are able to become active participants in the decision making process regarding their surgery.

A surgery method commonly used is a lumpectomy. Just like it sounds a lumpectomy is a surgery where the cancerous tumor is removed. There is a large range of choices when receiving a lumpectomy. The amount of tissues being removed from around the cancerous clump vary. Typically surgeons make decisions regarding how much of a reduction is necessary to reduce the chances of cancer recurring.

Depending upon where the tumor is located, its size, and how long it has been growing a surgeon might have to remove one or more lymph nodes during the lumpectomy process. Lymph nodes are bean-sized glands that are typically oval in shape. They operate as part of a system that operates throughout the body. Lymph nodes are necessary in the immune system. Lymph nodes help to fight off bacteria and the invasion of foreign bodies.

Once a cancer reaches a lymph node it can easily and rapidly spread through the body by means of the vessels connecting all the lymph nodes. When or if that happens, the cancer becomes much more difficult to treat. Often chemotherapy or radiation treatment is called for at this stage.

To minimize the likelihood of that happening, surgeons will sometimes remove one or more lymph nodes near a cancerous tumor. Then, lab tests are performed to check for any spread of the cancer. Here again, each case is unique and the options and likely actions should be discussed with all the physicians involved.

Breast cancer, like others, develops in stages determined by the size, location and type of tumors that make up the cancer. When breast cancer has reached a stage where it’s called for, surgery may go beyond a lumpectomy. The patient and doctor (usually an oncologist) may opt for a partial or segmental mastectomy, sometimes called a quadrantectomy.

In that procedure more breast tissue is removed than in a simple lumpectomy. In many cases radiation therapy may be part of the follow up treatment regimen, often extending for six or eight weeks. The goal is to ensure that all the cancer was removed, or that any remaining malignant tissue the surgeon was unable to get is destroyed by the radiation.

In more extreme cases, which are fortunately recommended much less often today, a mastectomy may be performed. Most or all of the breast is removed. When no lymph nodes are taken, the procedure is called a simple or total mastectomy. When all the breast tissue is removed, along with the nipple and lymph nodes in the armpit, the surgery is termed a modified radical mastectomy.

When a surgeon has to remove the chest wall muscles the procedure is then called a radical mastectomy. This action is very extreme and is not typically used today. When it is required prosthetics and reconstructive surgery can often be used to completely restore an individual’s appearance.

An individual’s stay in the hospital varies depending on the type of treatment they must undergo. These treatments can vary from outpatient surgery where the individual is released the same day to a week for procedures that are more intense. You should explore and research all of the options available to you carefully. You should ask questions and not be put off by a physician’s busy schedule. You must find a physician that is willing to answer all of your questions in detail in layman’s terms. This is the first step toward getting proper treatment.