How is it performed? of Mastectomy

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You may be advised to have chemotherapy (anti-cancer drugs) or hormone therapy (drugs to stop the hormones in your body that encourage breast cancer) before your mastectomy. These treatments can be used in some cases to reduce the size of the tumour, which makes it easier to remove, and reduces the amount of breast tissue which needs to be removed. They can also be used after the surgery, to prevent the cancer coming back.

Not everyone can benefit from hormone therapy, as only some breast cancers will respond to this type of treatment . Your specialist will test your cancer cells to find out. This can be done with a fine needle aspiration (FNA), which is a quick and simple procedure using a fine needle and syringe to take a sample of cells from the lump in your breast. The cells can then be tested at a laboratory.

Radiotherapy (focused beams of radiation to kill cancer cells) is often also used after surgery as way of ensuring that there are no remaining cancer cells.

The mastectomy is performed under general anaesthetic, which means that you are completely unaware of the operation and feel no pain. (However you will feel sore when you wake up after the operation.) A diagonal or horizontal cut is made across the breast, and the breast tissue is removed. Some of the lymph nodes are usually removed, so that the surgeon can check them for breast cancer cells. If cancer is found in the lymph nodes, they will need to be removed, and you may need further treatment, such as radiotherapy, after surgery.

Some people have breast reconstruction at the same time as their mastectomy, some have this surgery later on, and some decide not to at all. It is your decision, and your specialist will be able to discuss the options with you. Breast reconstruction is a procedure that makes a new breast to replace the tissue removed during a mastectomy. A silicone implant, or tissue from another part of your body (for example your abdomen or back), can be used to create a new breast.

Once the procedure is complete the cut is then closed up with stitches.