Waiting until reconstruction surgery to remove other breast?

MommyErin

Background: Stage IIIA and am receiving neoadjuvant TCHP. I will be getting rads. 31 and healthy/fit.

Because I'm BRCA1+, I am planning to have a double mastectomy. When meeting with the breast surgeon at MD Anderson, she said she wanted to only remove the cancer breast during the first surgery (skin sparing with TE placement) and do the prophylactic mastectomy during the reconstruction surgery 6-months post rads. Her reason was that prophylactic mastectomies carry a 30% risk of complications, and since she wants me to heal quickly to start rads, minimizing potential complications is to my benefit.

Has anyone else gone this route? It seems like it will draw out the whole reconstruction process, but maybe not?

Lisey

Mommy,

One thing to note: Skin sparing does have a slightly greater chance at recurrance than a full mastectomy. My surgeon basically said if you leave skin, it needs a layer of breast tissue fat to feed and nourish it so if you are at risk, especially with BRCA, that little bit of breast tissue could recur. I personally would do a FULL mastectomy and get rid of all the skin/tissue/fat of my breast. I'm a 1A and I told them to not leave any skin... I'm young and don't want to risk a recurrance for looks.