Are all mastectomies the same?

Tinkerbells

someone I know had mentioned that surgical skill and the amount of tissue left behind can be a factor. While I understand this logically, wouldn't chemo and radiation take care of what's left?

Or not? Does the technical skill involved in a mastectomy make a difference in recurrence rates?

Deblc

I think it has something to do with "clear margins" and whether or not you would need additional surgery

http://www.breastcancer.org/symptoms/diagnosis/mar...

I'm not really sure though, many more knowledgeable ppl on the site probably will have more info

inks

There have been studies that compare high volume hospitals and low volume community hospitals and BC survival and outcomes. Not only does it matter who does the surgery but it also matters who the MO is.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12839844/

Breast cancer: do specialists make a difference?

Multivariate analysis indicated that type of surgeon was an independent predictor of survival (relative risk,.77), as were both hospital and surgeon case volume.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2941652/

Does Center Volume Correlate with Survival from Breast Cancer?

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC80677/

Breast cancer survival by teaching status of the initial treating hospital

Tinkerbells

OK- WHOA- thanks for this. I had no idea how much of afactor this is.

Jerseygirl927

just found this, my breat surgeon has been doing this for about 8-10 years, and I had large volume breasts, I was told all the breast tissue as gone in terms of breast tissue,fat cells! Do I have to be worried still? Will read the above