Mastectomy News and Research

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

Implant reconstruction after radiation leads to complications, less satisfaction in breast cancer patients

Many breast cancer patients who have a mastectomy will consider breast reconstruction. But for a portion of these women, radiation therapy is also recommended - and that can alter the tissue around the breast, impacting reconstruction efforts.

9 Dec 2016

Acupuncture treatments after mastectomy help women cope with post-operative symptoms

Women who had acupuncture treatments after breast cancer surgery at Abbott Northwestern Hospital had a greater reduction in pain, nausea, and anxiety and were better able to cope on the first post-operative day compared with patients who had traditional care, according to a study published in the Oncology Nursing Forum in November.

30 Nov 2016

New optical fiber probe could help differentiate between healthy and cancerous tissue during surgery

An optical fiber probe can distinguish cancer tissue and normal tissue at the margins of a tumor being excised, in real time, by detecting the difference in pH between the two types of tissue.

30 Nov 2016

Immediate breast reconstruction can help avoid period of psychosocial distress linked to mastectomy

Immediate breast reconstruction (IBR) can avoid some of the psychological effects of undergoing mastectomy for breast cancer, compared to waiting for delayed breast reconstruction (DBR), reports a study in the October issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.

29 Sep 2016

Hidden Scar approach minimizes visible breast cancer scars

PinnacleHealth Breast Care Surgeons Lisa Torp, Brynn Wolff and Katherine Barton are the first in Pennsylvania to be recognized for Excellence in Hidden Scar™ Breast Cancer Surgery.

21 Sep 2016

Leading cancer organizations publish new guidelines on postmastectomy radiotherapy

Three leading national cancer organizations today issued a joint clinical practice guideline update for physicians treating women with breast cancer who have undergone a mastectomy.

20 Sep 2016

Study reveals needle biopsy hormone receptor testing for DCIS wastes millions

For patients with the most common type of noninvasive breast cancer, routine testing for estrogen and progesterone receptors in tissue taken at the first "needle" biopsy is both unnecessary and wasteful, according to results of a study led by Johns Hopkins pathologists.

9 Aug 2016

Researchers receive $2 million PCORI funding to analyze use of decision aids in breast cancer treatment

A research team at The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice has received a $2 million funding award from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute to conduct a research project that is likely to change the way women and their doctors make decisions about breast cancer surgery.

2 Aug 2016

African-American women twice as likely to choose autologous breast reconstruction, study shows

African American women undergoing mastectomy for breast cancer are more likely than white women to undergo autologous breast reconstruction using their own tissue, rather than implant-based reconstruction, reports a study in the August issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).

2 Aug 2016

Study highlights more barriers to breast reconstruction than previously thought

Women were less likely to have breast reconstruction surgery after mastectomy if they had Medicaid or Medicare rather than private insurance or if they lived 10 or more miles from a plastic surgeon's office, a University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center study has found.

29 Jul 2016

Cancer risk screening for hereditary mutations: an interview with Ted Snelgrove

Great question – the answer is actually unknown. Every month, there are publications that report on new cancer-related genes, so it's an area of great knowledge growth at the moment.

26 Jul 2016

Women trust their own judgment when making breast cancer surgery-related decisions

A research team led by Breast Health Fellow Rebecca M. Kwait, MD, at The Breast Health Center at Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island, a Care New England hospital, recently presented research indicating that when faced with a decision on the type of surgery to have to remove breast cancer, more women trust their own judgment over the input of their surgeon and even their partner.

7 Jul 2016

Mastectomy followed by standard therapy improves survival in stage IV breast cancer patients

Surgery to remove the primary tumor in women diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer, followed by the standard combination of therapies, adds months to the patients' lives, compared with standard therapy alone, an international clinical trial led by a University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute professor revealed.

4 Jun 2016

BRCA gene mutations raise risk of breast, ovarian and other cancers

BRCA Share, a public-private BRCA gene datashare initiative, today announced the public release of a large collection of new data on genetic variants in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes.

From Quest Diagnostics 2 Jun 2016

Denosumab drug that inhibits RANKL gene can prevent genetic breast cancer

An international team led by researchers at the Austrian Institute of Molecular Biotechnology in Vienna and the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore discovered that genetically determined breast cancer can be largely prevented by blocking a bone gene. An already approved drug could be quickly available and would then be the first breast cancer prevention drug.

1 Jun 2016

Patients undergoing breast cancer surgery with non-opiate anaesthesia may need less painkillers

New research presented at Euroanaesthesia 2016 shows that patients undergoing breast cancer surgery need less painkilling medication post-surgery if they have anaesthesia that is free of opioid drugs.

31 May 2016

Could whole-mount scanning of breast tissue lead to better clinical outcomes? An interview with Dr Martin Yaffe

We actually normally refer to this as whole-specimen imaging of breast tissue.

From Huron Technologies 24 May 2016

Young breast cancer patients see body changes more positively after mastectomy treatment

BODY image identity varies among women who have undergone treatment for breast cancer with many rejecting mainstream body shape ideals, research shows.

4 May 2016

DIEP flap breast reconstruction improves long-term quality of life for breast cancer patients

For women who have undergone mastectomy for breast cancer, breast reconstruction using the abdominal "DIEP flap" provides good long-term quality of life (QOL)—similar to that of women without breast cancer, reports a study in the May issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).

30 Apr 2016

New gene testing method can identify mutations, prioritize variants in breast and ovarian cancer genes

A research team led by an award-winning genomicist at Western University has developed a new method for identifying mutations and prioritizing variants in breast and ovarian cancer genes, which will not only reduce the number of possible variants for doctors to investigate, but also increase the number of patients that are properly diagnosed.

29 Apr 2016