Oncoplastic surgery blends the new methods in plastic surgery with oncology of the breast. If you undergo a large lumpectomy (surgery to remove cancer or other irregular tissue from your breast) will lead to distortion of the breast, so the resulting tissue is sculpted to realign the nipple and areola and restore a natural appearance to the form of the it.
How is oncoplastic surgery performed?
Depending on the size & location, the primary tumor is removed either by a lumpectomy – surgical removal the tumor along with a rim of normal tissue around it or mastectomy – Removal of the entire breast This is combined with removal of the lymph nodes in the axilla either by a sentinel lymph node biopsy of axillary dissection.
Oncoplastic Reconstruction
Depending on the nature of the disease, the health and body of the patient and their desired outcome, there are many different oncoplastic techniques.
- Local Advancement Flap
- Bilateral Breast Reduction
- Bilateral Breast Lift (Mastopexy)
- Skin-Sparing Mastectomy (surgery to remove all breast tissue from a breast as a way to treat or prevent breast cancer.)with immediate reconstruction with patients own tissues or a silicone implant
Advantages of Oncoplastic surgery at the time of lumpectomy
- Enables the removal of a larger amount of tissue, while preserving the breast, which is helpful in situations where the tumor is bigger or where there is doubt about the ability to obtain negative margins.
- If a larger amount of tissue has to be removed, improved balance is given by conducting a similar procedure on the other breast.
- This requires only one surgery.
- As the surgery is done before radiation, risks of wound healing that may occur in case of post radiation surgery can be avoided
- Better body image
- Patients feel psychologically better as the breast is preserved