Breast Cancer & Mastectomy

Breast cancer is now the most common cancer in the UK and in 2007 nearly 48,000 women were diagnosed with breast cancer, that’s around 125 women a day.

Breast cancer survival rates have been improving for forty years now and more women are surviving breast cancer than ever before. In the Seventies around 5 out of 10 women with breast cancer would survive the disease but today more than 8 women out of 10 diagnosed with breast cancer will survive the disease beyond five years.

Mastectomy is one of the most common surgical treatment methods for women breast cancer. A mastectomy involves the surgical removal of one both breasts. The breast(s) can be removed in its entirety or just partially. A mastectomy may also be carried out as a preventative measures for women who are at an extremely high risk for developing breast cancer.

Breast reconstruction surgery can usually be done under the guidance of a highly skilled surgeon. With the medical technology available today, many women are able to have completely reconstructed breasts that often look and feel quite natural.

Mastectomy surgery can take up to three hours and patients can expect to spend the next few days following surgery in the hospital.

Even after a successful mastectomy operation has been performed, breast cancer can still return. Therefore it is important that any woman who has had mastectomy still keeps any agreed follow-up appointments and also reports any  potential symptoms to her doctor.