Mastectomy (Removal of the Breast) for Breast Cancer Mastectomy
is removal of the breast. Other nearby tissue may also be
removed if it appears that cancer may have spread to these
areas. All mastectomies remove the whole breast. Because the
size and location of tumors and where the cancer might have
spread differ from one person to another, the amount of other
tissue removed during surgery also varies. Reference Mastectomy
procedures include: - Total or simple mastectomy, which is the
removal of the whole breast. - Modified radical mastectomy,
which is the removal of the breast, some of the lymph nodes
under the arm, and sometimes part of the chest wall muscles. -
Radical mastectomy, which is the removal of the breast, chest
muscles, and all of the lymph nodes under the arm (Reference
axillary lymph node dissection). This surgery is rarely used
now. Depending on the location of the tumor in the breast or
other factors, some women may be able to have a skin-sparing or
nipple-sparing mastectomy. Skin-sparing m