Breast cancer can be a devastating disease which negatively impacts the lives of many and causes many people a great deal of suffering. You may be healthy and fit, but still have come to realize yourself or someone you love has been diagnosed with breast cancer. Thankfully we have made huge steps in recent years to improve the treatment, the diagnosis and the education about this cancer, and survival rates are at an all time high. One such treatment which is greatly helping men and women around the world, in their fight against breast cancer, is a lumpectomy, a relatively simply procedure which seeks to remove the cancer from the breast.
This is just one procedure which is used to remove cancer from the body, and here is a little more about what it is, and why people elect to use a lumpectomy specialist for their cancer treatment.
What is a Lumpectomy?
The idea of a lumpectomy is to remove the cancerous tumour inside the breast, as well as some of the tissue around it. Unlike a mastectomy, a lumpectomy seeks only to remove the affected area of the body, rather than remove the breast in its entirety. The reason behind why people may opt for a lumpectomy rather than a mastectomy is that they may wish to preserve the breast for cosmetic reasons, or sometimes the patient may be to trial to have something as major as a mastectomy.
Mobility
After the operation, patients will be very tender and frail as a result of both the general anaesthetic, and the operation itself. Patients with cancer that have had a lumpectomy are likely to feel very fatigued and they will usually require staying in the hospital overnight so that they can be observed. Most patients leave hospital the following day and it is advised that they do not drive or move about too much in the weeks following the operation.
Further Treatment
For some patients further radiation treatment will be offered in order to make sure that all cancerous cells in the breast have been killed. The length of the radiation treatment will greatly depend on the severity of the case and the success of the lumpectomy operation.
Pre-Mastectomy
Whistle many patients and healthcare professionals would much prefer to perform a lumpectomy rather than a mastectomy, it can often prove to be a pre-cursor to removing the whole breast. Even in successful lumpectomy cases, the risk of cancer could return at a later date, by which point the decision will be taken to perform a mastectomy, rather than a second lumpectomy. There are also times when the cancerous cells will hide, and so in spite of the lumpectomy success, a full breast removal may be the only option remaining.
If you are suffering from breast cancer at the moment, it is important that you speak at length with your healthcare professional to find out whether or not a lumpectomy is the best option for you, ensure that you ask many questions before making your decision.
2018 ·