Mastectomy instead of biopsy

laurie2005

Mastectomy instead of biopsy

laurie2005

I had IDC in 2005 with a lumpectomy and radiation, negative nodes. I am now dealing with huge calcifications, lumps, etc in my breast. There is an area of concern and my surgeon says the only way to get to it is to take the breast off. Well, he will leave a little tissue at the top to give the illusion of a breast. Has anyone else out there gone through this? He said there is a possibility that I will not heal after surgery and will have to have grafting done. I plan on getting reconstruction done once I find out what all I am dealing with. He also said that they may not be able to use my abdomen tissue for that since I had my gallbladder removed the old fashioned way 27 years ago.

Leah_S

Laurie, if it were me I would get a second opinion. A mastectomy when you don't even know if it's cancer? Sounds pretty drastic. If you didn't have a history of bc in that breast I'm sure someone would figure out a way to biopsy the "area of concern". If it is bc you probably would need a mast since you can't do rads to that breast again but if it isn't bc, why do it?

As far as the recon options if you do need a mastectomy - speak to a good PS with a lot of experience with DIEP recon.

Best of luck.

Leah