Anesthesia for Lumpectomy

BB3312

Is it possible ( or even wise) to have sedation as opposed to General Anesthesia for a lumpectomy/sentinel node? I have some health problems that worry me with GA. Thanks!

gb2115

I think sometimes they do it with sedation, but most often it's GA. This is a great discussion to have with your surgeon, and then whoever will be doing the anesthesia!

GreenHarbor

It’s my understanding that part of the reason that lumpectomies are done with general anesthesia is to keep the patient perfectly still during surgery. About 10 days before my lumpectomy, I had a phone consult with one of the nurses from the outpatient surgery department. We spoke for close to an hour, and one of the topics was prior surgeries and how I had reacted to the anesthesia. There are different drug combos that they use. Definitely check in with your surgeon too! Best of luck to you, whatever you decide.

santabarbarian

There are varying stats on rates of metastases after different anesthesias.... I called my Anesthesiologist about options and got the feeling that very few people actually phone them.... I did and mine was very nice and extremely well informed about the options and which approach most discouraged metastases.