Mastectomy News and Research

RSS

Mastectomy is surgery to remove the breast (or as much of the breast tissue as possible).

New diagnostic test could end unnecessary chemotherapy for breast cancer

A diagnostic test developed at The University of Queensland might soon determine if a breast cancer patient requires chemotherapy or would receive no benefit from this gruelling treatment.

29 Jun 2019

3D mammograms increasing in popularity for breast cancer screening in the USA

More and more women are undergoing 3D mammograms for breast cancer screening in the US, with rates increasing from 13 percent to 43 percent.

26 Jun 2019

Breast cancer patients unaware of surgical options, study finds

The majority of women who underwent lumpectomy or mastectomy surgeries for breast cancer report that the scars from those surgeries negatively affect their daily lives.

4 Jun 2019

Clinical trial determines how proton radiotherapy can be used in early stage breast cancer

Researchers at the University of Cincinnati are looking to enroll participants in a clinical trial, only being offered locally, to determine how the use of proton radiotherapy can be used for patients with early stage breast cancer.

21 May 2019

Dealing with hospital closure, pioneer Kansas town asks: What comes next?

A slight drizzle had begun in the gray December sky outside Community Christian Church as Reta Baker, president of the local hospital, stepped through the doors to join a weekly morning coffee organized by Fort Scott's chamber of commerce.

14 May 2019

3D-printed tissue scaffolds could help improve nipple reconstruction

Nipple and areola reconstruction is a common breast reconstruction technique, especially for breast cancer patients after mastectomy.

13 May 2019

Experts to present tumor DNA, breast and jaw reconstruction studies at PSRC annual meeting

The Plastic Surgery Research Council focuses on awareness surrounding compelling research relating to the field of plastic surgery.

3 May 2019

Patients caught in middle of fight between health care behemoths

Cancer survivors Evalyn Bodick, 74, and Barbara Marsic, 63, are caught in the crossfire of one of the fiercest health care fights in the country. They fear they are about to lose access to the doctors they say have kept them alive.

26 Apr 2019

Jewish General Hospital initiates new clinical trial to avoid surgery in breast cancer patients

In a radical departure from established treatment protocols, Dr. Mark Basik, a surgical oncologist at Segal Cancer Centre at the Jewish General Hospital and senior investigator at the Lady Davis Institute, is leading an international effort that will lead to a clinical trial to forego surgery in breast cancer patients who show no signs of residual cancer following a course of pre-operative chemotherapy.

9 Apr 2019

UCR study: Surgery associated with higher survival of patients with HER2-positive stage 4 breast cancer

A student at the University of California, Riverside, presented research results at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research, or AACR, in Atlanta showing that surgery is associated with higher survival rates for patients with HER2-positive stage 4 breast cancer compared with those who did not undergo surgery.

3 Apr 2019

Finding homeless patients a place to heal

After they amputated the second toe on John Trumbla's right foot last summer, doctors sent him to a nursing home because he still needed medical care — but not necessarily a hospital bed.

3 Apr 2019

AeroForm Tissue Expanders makes breast reconstruction after mastectomy more comfortable

Henry Ford Cancer Institute is the first in Michigan to offer a needle-free, patient-controlled tissue expansion system for women undergoing breast reconstruction after mastectomy.

20 Mar 2019

Breast cancer study: Family-history-based models perform better than non-family-history based models

A team of researchers led by Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health Professor Mary Beth Terry, PhD, evaluated four commonly used breast cancer prediction models and found that family-history-based models perform better than non-family-history based models, even for women at average or below-average risk of breast cancer.

22 Feb 2019

Autologous breast reconstruction after failed implant reconstruction gives good outcomes

Implants are usually the first choice for breast reconstruction after mastectomy. But when implant-based reconstruction fails, autologous reconstruction - using the patient's own tissues - is a safe procedure that improves patient outcomes, reports a study in the February issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.

31 Jan 2019

Community hospitals link arms with prestigious facilities to raise their profiles

After seven years of a vigorous fight, Jim Hart worried he was running out of options. Diagnosed with prostate cancer at age 60, Hart had undergone virtually every treatment — surgery, radiation and hormones — to eradicate it. But a blood test showed that his level of prostate-specific antigen, which should have been undetectable, kept rising ominously. And doctors couldn’t determine where the residual cancer was lurking.

29 Jan 2019

One implant, two prices. It depends on who’s paying.

Kim Daniels didn't have to pay a penny for her double mastectomy or the reconstructive surgery she had after treatment for breast cancer in June 2018. Her health insurance, PennCare, administered through Independence Blue Cross in Pennsylvania, fully covered both procedures.

11 Dec 2018

Surgical choices may have long-term impact on quality of life for breast cancer patients

Even as more young women with breast cancer opt to have mastectomies, many experience a persistent decline in their sexual and psychosocial well-being following the procedure, as detailed in new research by Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center.

7 Dec 2018

World's first robot-assisted bilateral breast reconstruction performed by Penn surgeons

A team of surgeons from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania are the first in the world to use a surgical robot to assist with a bilateral free flap breast reconstruction - a procedure in which tissue is taken from the lower abdomen - similar to a "tummy tuck" - and used to rebuild the breast.

6 Dec 2018

Research: Free-flap reconstruction has "generally good outcomes" in women aged 65 or older

Breast reconstruction using a "free flap" from the patient's abdomen is a safe procedure with a high success rate in older women opting for reconstruction after mastectomy, reports a study in the December issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.

29 Nov 2018

New methods for preserving shoulder function, quality of life in breast cancer patients

After a prophylactic double mastectomy in 2015, Tina Harrison discovered that she did, indeed, have breast cancer--it just hadn't been detected.

19 Nov 2018