Breast-Conserving Therapy

Studies have shown that women with early-stage breast cancer who have a lumpectomy to remove the cancer, followed by radiation, live just as long as women who have a mastectomy. The standard of care following lumpectomy (breast-conserving therapy) is to add external beam radiation therapy. In many cases, this is administered after chemotherapy.

Beaumont has been one of the most progressive institutions employing breast-conserving therapy to treat breast cancer patients. Our Oncology Program includes Breast Care Centers a world-class Radiation Oncology Department, and tumor boards, which provide the opportunity to discuss the latest techniques to optimally treat patients.

Your Beaumont cancer surgeon will perform the lumpectomy (also called a partial mastectomy) to remove the tumor. A second operation – a re-excision – is sometimes needed if a microscopic exam finds tumor cells at or near the edge of the tissue that was removed. Breast-conserving surgery is not an option for all breast cancer patients. Talk with your Beaumont surgeon and radiation oncologist to see if this treatment is right for you. Rarely, multiple attempts to obtain adequate surgical margins with a lumpectomy may prove unsuccessful. In these cases, a mastectomy may be required.

In patients with invasive breast cancers, there will likely be a sampling of lymph nodes under the arm, either with a sentinel lymph node procedure or axillary lymph node dissection.