Do you have a choice regarding lumpectomy or full mastectomy?

Toshia

Being a cancer survivor of many years, if my biopsy results come back positive I would prefer to have a mastectomy than have bits cut off and chance for it to come back. What do you think anyone

moth

Well, a mastectomy doesn't prevent metastatic recurrence so it could still come back.

Most surgeons will give you choice; but there are risks to mastectomy which have to be balanced with benefits. Breast conserving surgery + radiation may have the same benefits for you. It depends on the type and extent of your cancer.

sorry to hear you find yourself back on this merry-go-round

Georgia1

Hi Toshia. Is this a breast cancer recurrence for you, or did you have another type of cancer? Genetic testing might be helpful to you, but in my case I had melanoma and then breast cancer, 30 years apart. I happily chose radiation + lumpectomy, and for me the odds of recurrence are the same as with a masectomy.

Sjacobs146

Moth is correct, mastectomy does not eliminate the chance of a recurrance or metastatic recurrence. They can't get all of the breast tissue with a mastectomy. There is a lot to consider when deciding on treatment options, definitely search through the boards for the many posts about this subjec. If your biopsy comes back positive, your breast surgeon will make a recommendation.

Icantri

Hi Toshia, I am sorry you are here. I was recommended lumpectomy + rads but chose mastectomy instead and am very happy with my decision. They got clear margins so I didn’t need radiation. I chose no reconstruction so once recovered from my surgery I was “done”. Except for daily Tamoxifen which I would be taking regardless of which surgical treatment I had chosen.

I felt the same way about chipping away at my breast, and the possibility of needing to go throughout it all again if we weren’t aggressive enough from the start. Turned out I had more cancer than they expected (multifocal) so if I had chosen lumpectomy, I would have been needed more surgery

Good luck to you!

Moderators

Great advice from everyone here, Toshia. It will really depend on what (if anything) they find. One step at a time.

Please keep us posted!

Rrobin0200

toshia... I'm with you 100%. I wanted the most radical, the most aggressive approach there is. I will always respect others opinions, even though I am a full supporter of a MX.

Egads007

I opted for lumpectomy at my onc surgeon’s advice. He explained that (as others have said) lumpectomy + chemo/radshad as good a chance as MX. I agreed because the thought of losing the whole breast floored me back then. It niggles in my mind often as to whether I made the right decision...time will tell. If I have a reoccurrence I won’t hesitate and go for a bilat mx.

wallycat

I would have opted for lumpectomy if rads were not necessary. I was able to avoid rads with mastectomy. Since I had lobular, I did bilateral mx.

NVDobie

one additional thing is also to consider whether radiation although may have side effects but is also part of aggressive measures we are taking against this thing. The same idea why some choose mastectomy.

Personally I am most concerned about distant recurrence in other organs vs. a local recurrence.

I had the same dilemma due to close margin after lumpectomy of multifocal IDC.

The new surgeon I met suggested lumpectomy plus radiation instead of mastectomy. The key point she pointed out Is cancer cells are present in lymphvascular activity. She explained that radiation will be best to treat the involvement of lymph.

My radiation oncologist said I could skip radiation if I go for mastectomy due to zero nodes.

I am going for re-excision for bigger margin, then radiation.

Balance the SE from radiation vs. disadvantage including increasing risk of distant recurrence from skipping radiation was hard.

Meow13

I am glad to have avoided radiation, I wish I knew how good plastic surgery could be I would have been spared emotionally. But we sure need better treatment.