Breast Cancer Surgery

Choosing the right breast cancer surgeon

Choosing a surgeon to treat your breast cancer may be one of the most important decisions you will make. While there are many doctors who perform breast cancer surgeries, most of them do not specialize in breast cancer quite like a breast-focused surgeon does.

With years of experience focused on breast disease, our team of board-certified breast-focused surgeons have special breast cancer expertise that gives patients the best chance for a positive outcome.

What is a breast-focused surgeon?

For most women, surgery will be part of cancer treatment. A breast-focused surgeon is a surgeon who specializes in breast cancer and other diseases of the breast. Areas of a breast cancer surgeon’s expertise include a lumpectomy, mastectomy or mastectomy with breast reconstruction, lymph node surgery and prophylactic mastectomy:

• Lumpectomy: A lumpectomy, also called breast-conserving surgery, removes only the part of the breast containing the cancer and a small rim of healthy breast tissue around it, called the margin. This may be an outpatient surgery.
• Mastectomy: A mastectomy is a surgery in which the entire breast is removed. Mastectomy may be done on one or both breasts. Our breast-focused surgeons generally recommend one of three types of mastectomy:
  • Total mastectomy: This surgery removes the entire breast, including the breast tissue, nipple, and areola, and most of the skin covering the breast. The surgery is often recommended for women who do not have cancer that has spread to the lymph nodes, but who are not candidates for lumpectomy.
  • Modified-radical mastectomy: This surgery combines a total mastectomy with the removal of underarm lymph nodes. It is the procedure of choice for women with invasive breast cancer that has spread to the underarm lymph nodes.
  • Nipple-sparing mastectomy: This surgery leaves the nipple in place.
• Lymph node surgery: Lymph node surgery includes such things as axillary node dissection and sentinel node biopsy.
• Prophylactic mastectomy: Some women, on the advice of their doctors, may choose to have a mastectomy as a precautionary measure if they are at a high risk for breast cancer. A prophylactic mastectomy can lower breast cancer risk by at least 95% in women with BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutations or with a strong family history of breast cancer, according to the National Cancer Institute. If you have a prophylactic mastectomy, you may want to combine it with breast reconstruction surgery.

The extent of your cancer and your personal preferences will help determine which of these surgeries is the right choice for you.

Better outcomes with a breast-focused surgeon

Since breast cancer treatment often begins with surgery, a good surgical result paves the way for the best possible prognosis. In fact, studies show that breast cancer patients treated by breast-focused surgeons have better outcomes.

Committed to the highest standards of surgical care for breast cancer patients

Our designation as an American College of Surgeons (ACS) Surgical Quality Partner shows we have the highest and most rigorous standards for cancer-related surgical care.

When breast cancer treatment is needed, our team of breast-focused surgeons is here for you:

• Akin Beckley, MD, PhD, FACS
• Richard Fox, MD, FACS
• Susan Hagen, MD, FACS
• Katrina Oyague, MD, FACS
• Gerlinde Tynan, MD, FACS

Contact us today

Nanna Bo Christensen, RN, OCN, CBCN, BCH’s Breast Cancer Nurse Navigator, is here to support you in making these very personal choices. She can be reached at 303-415-7057 or nchristensen@bch.org