• Breast Reconstruction Another role for surgery is reconstructing a breast after one has been removed. This is being done more often than it used to be. It is also being done earlier and with techniques that produce a more cosmetically acceptable result. An experienced plastic or reconstructive surgeon may see the patient before primary surgery to give advice and assistance, but is more often consulted near the end of therapy if the patient wants her breast reconstructed. For more details on breast recontruction,
Radiation Radiotherapy is often part of standard treatment for breast cancer to treat the remaining
breast tissue after the primary tumor has been removed. This is based on the frequent risk of microscopic (and undetectable) cancer cells remaining in the breast. For smaller breast cancers, the combined treatment with surgery (lumpectomy or segmental resection) and subsequent radiotherapy has been shown to be equivalent to the modified radical mastectomy .
Another use of radiation therapy as primary treatment is in postmastectomy radiation to the chest wall. This may be done if the tumor was found at surgery or after tissue examination to invade the skin or chest wall muscles, if it was very large or if many lymph nodes were involved. The assumption is that there may be hidden tumor cells in the chest wall or armpit (axilla) after surgery that can be eradicated effectively by radiation. In addition to the chest wall, the area treated (the radiation field) sometimes includes the lymph nodes in the armpit or over the collarbone (supraclavicular nodes).
