Mastectomy News and Research RSS Feed - Mastectomy News and Research

Mastectomy is surgery to remove the breast (or as much of the breast tissue as possible).
UAB genetics and breast cancer experts respond to Angelina Jolie's preventive mastectomy

UAB genetics and breast cancer experts respond to Angelina Jolie's preventive mastectomy

Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie, who has one of the genes linked to breast cancer, revealed that she underwent a double mastectomy earlier this year to prevent following in the footsteps of her mother and succumbing to breast cancer. [More]
Viewpoints: Angelina Jolie on her decision to have a double mastectomy; Justice Ginsburg's 'blind spot' on abortion

Viewpoints: Angelina Jolie on her decision to have a double mastectomy; Justice Ginsburg's 'blind spot' on abortion

My doctors estimated that I had an 87 percent risk of breast cancer and a 50 percent risk of ovarian cancer, although the risk is different in the case of each woman. Only a fraction of breast cancers result from an inherited gene mutation. Those with a defect in BRCA1 have a 65 percent risk of getting it, on average. Once I knew that this was my reality, I decided to be proactive and to minimize the risk as much I could. I made a decision to have a preventive double mastectomy. I started with the breasts, as my risk of breast cancer is higher than my risk of ovarian cancer, and the surgery is more complex (Angelina Jolie, 5/14). [More]
ASPS strongly supports Breast Cancer Patient Education Act

ASPS strongly supports Breast Cancer Patient Education Act

The American Society of Plastic Surgeons today announced its strong support of the "Breast Cancer Patient Education Act" (S. 931). This bipartisan legislation is being introduced today, coinciding with National Women's Health Week, in the U.S. House of Representatives by Reps. Leonard Lance (R-NJ) and Donna Christensen, M.D. (D-VI) and in the United States Senate by Sens. Roy Blunt (R-MO), Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and David Vitter (R-LA). [More]

Looking good helps women cancer patients feel better, gives more confidence to cope with disease

A year ago, Colleen Williams was into the natural look. She seldom bothered to put on makeup and she let her long, wavy, brown hair flow free. Cancer treatment changed that. These days, when she feels well enough to go to work, Williams wears her "cute hat" to cover her newly-balding head and takes a little extra time in the morning to pencil in her thinning brows and apply concealer to make her skin look a little less gray. [More]

Genetic counseling, BRCA testing can reduce cancer incidence in black women, researchers say

Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center and colleagues in Canada have published study results focused on black women younger than 50, a population disproportionately afflicted with and dying from early-onset breast cancer compared to their white counterparts. [More]

Classification aids high nipple surgery decision-making

Surgeons have devised a system to help determine the severity of high nipple-areola complex in patients after cosmetic or reconstructive breast surgery. [More]
Anesthetics during breast cancer surgery may affect development of chronic pain

Anesthetics during breast cancer surgery may affect development of chronic pain

In women with breast cancer, the choice of anesthetic used for mastectomy may affect the risk of developing long-term pain after surgery, according to a study in the March issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia, official journal of the International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS). [More]

Trends in patient worry and risk-reducing behaviors in women undergoing breast cancer treatment

Women who have had the lymph nodes under their arm surgically removed during breast cancer treatment are warned to avoid certain practices that can cause lymphedema-a condition that causes chronic, painless swelling in the arm. [More]
Surprises found in postoperative pain rankings

Surprises found in postoperative pain rankings

Patients report “unexpectedly high” levels of pain after some relatively minor surgical procedures, including some laparoscopic procedures, say researchers. [More]

Lumpectomy plus radiation may provide better survival for early breast cancer patients

A new analysis has found that lumpectomy plus radiation for early breast cancer may provide patients with a better chance of survival than mastectomy. Published early online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the results provide confidence in the efficacy of breast-conserving treatments even among patients with aggressive, early disease. [More]

Lumpectomy plus radiation may provide better chance of survival than mastectomy in early breast cancer patients

A new analysis has found that lumpectomy plus radiation for early breast cancer may provide patients with a better chance of survival than mastectomy. Published early online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the results provide confidence in the efficacy of breast-conserving treatments even among patients with aggressive, early disease. [More]

Less invasive treatment can provide superior survival to mastectomy in early stage breast cancer

Patients with early stage breast cancer who are treated with lumpectomy plus radiation have a better chance of survival compared with those who undergo mastectomy, according to Duke Medicine research. [More]

US breast reconstruction trends highlighted

The number of women undergoing breast reconstruction immediately after mastectomy has increased in recent years in the USA, with implant use being the most common approach, research shows. [More]

Breast cancer patients' recurrence fear distorted

The majority of women who undergo contralateral prophylactic mastectomy do so out of fear that their breast cancer will recur, rather than because they have a clinically high risk for recurrence, indicate US study results. [More]

ASBD to host 6th Annual School of Oncoplastic Surgery in Dallas

The American Society of Breast Disease (ASBD) is merging art and medicine this week, by using clay sculpting and other techniques to teach surgeons new skills in breast cancer surgery and reconstruction. [More]

Studies show possibility of improving healthcare by tackling problem in standardized way

Given the right equipment, training and skill, an individual surgeon can expect to provide the best possible care on a consistent basis. [More]

New study on incidence of breast cancer in Italy

A new study on the incidence of breast cancer in Italy has been published in the International Journal of Experimental and Clinical Cancer Research. [More]

Contralateral prophylactic mastectomy does not reduce breast cancer recurrence

About 70 percent of women who have both breasts removed following a breast cancer diagnosis do so despite a very low risk of facing cancer in the healthy breast, new research from the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center finds. [More]

Dune Medical Devices gets FDA PMA Approvable Letter for MarginProbe System

Dune Medical Devices, Inc., announced today that it has received an Approvable Letter for its Premarket Approval Application (PMA) from the Food and Drug Administration. The Approvable Letter states that the MarginProbe System PMA is approvable subject to final agreement with FDA on the design of the required Post Approval Study. [More]
Mastoscopic axillary lymph node dissection can reduce breast cancer complications

Mastoscopic axillary lymph node dissection can reduce breast cancer complications

Axillary lymph node dissection is done in conjunction with lumpectomy or mastectomy to determine if breast cancer has spread to the adjoining lymph nodes. The conventional surgical approach leaves a surgical scar that is unattractive and can restrict range of motion in the shoulder joint. Also, squeezing and pulling the tumor during the breast operation can stimulate tumor cell metastases. [More]