What is the Difference Between a Mastectomy and Lumpectomy?

Receiving a diagnosis of breast cancer can not only be devastating, emotionally, it can also lead to a variety of other physical health concerns. Being in control of what is going to happen to your body following a diagnosis of breast cancer is vital for your emotional wellness and wellbeing, and so it is important to read up on your treatment and understand as much as you possibly can.

 

When a tumour is diagnosed, doctors will generally decide that it has to be removed. What doctors have to decide, however, is whether to remove the entire breast, or just a small amount of tissue. When a tumour and small amount of surrounding tissue is removed, this is known as a lumpectomy. When the entire breast is removed, this is known as a mastectomy.

 

Research has shown that with stage one or two breast cancer, the outcomes for lumpectomy and mastectomy surgery (plus radiation) are the same, so the choice may well be up to you.

 

When a lumpectomy is performed, the surgeon only removes the tumour plus a margin of surrounding tissue. The aim is to create something called ‘clean margins’ – meaning that when tested, the tissue around the removed area shows up as being clear of cancer. If this does not occur, further surgery will then be required to remove more tissue or to do a mastectomy.

 

Following a lumpectomy, patients are almost always given several weeks of radiation therapy, in order to kill any remaining cells. There may also be chemotherapy after the surgery, which is known as adjuvant chemotherapy. Sometimes chemo is given before surgery (neoadjuvant chemo) in order to reduce the size of the tumour before going in for a surgical removal.

 

Both lumpectomy and mastectomy surgery has some risks, and your doctor will be able to advise you on issues such as pain medication and surgical dressings.

Categories: Breast, breast cancer, entire breast, lumpectomy, mastectomy, mastectomy nbsp, mastectomy surgery, nbsp, surrounding tissue

The Truth About Why Angelina Jolie Had a Double Mastectomy

A few months ago, the world was rocked by revelations about the health of actress Angelina Jolie. The actress revealed that she had opted to improve her wellness and wellbeing by undergoing a double mastectomy. This was due to the fact that she had tested positive for the BRCA 1 gene, following the death of her mother, and this meant that preemptive surgery gave her the best chance of staying healthy.

 

BRCA1 is a gene that makes people more susceptible to breast or ovarian cancer. It is a very dangerous gene to be in possession of, as it makes your chances of getting cancer extremely high (and the chances of a cure much lower than for the average person who contracts these types of cancer.

 

Breast cancer is a very common disease; statistics show that around 12 percent of women will develop the disease at some point during their lives. If women have a positive test for the BRCA mutation, their chances are much higher.

 

Jolie’s mother Marcheline Bertrand died in 2007 of ovarian cancer, and her aunt died recently of breast cancer, leading Jolie to suspect that there may be a higher risk of her possessing the gene. If you have a number of close relatives who have this disease, it can be an indicator that you are a carrier of the gene.

 

To that end, if you are adopted or have become estranged from your family, it’s a really good idea to do some background research and find out about any family history, so that you can take any precautions necessary.

 

Since the surgery, Jolie has revealed that her children were a major reason for her decision to go ahead with the surgery; the actress did not want her children to have to fear losing her to cancer. Her chances of the disease, following the surgery, have dropped from a scary 86 percent to just under five percent.

Categories: angelina, angelina jolie, breast cancer, cancer, double mastectomy, gene, jolie, mastectomy, nbsp, ovarian cancer, surgery