Conservative surgery

Around 70-90% of women with early-stage (small) diagnosed breast cancer have the clinical profile for a lumpectomy.

A lumpectomy (or tumorectomy) is the surgical removal of the tumor, or lump, together with a small portion of the surrounding breast tissue. 

It is an ambulatory procedure (so the patient goes home the same day), and is normally combined with a biopsy of the sentinel lymph nodes (the first lymph nodes reached by the cancer cells once the cancer starts moving/spreading).

The procedure was an important surgical advancement in the treatment of breast cancer, because it helps to:

1. Preserve most of the breast tissue, avoiding the complications of a mastectomy;
2. Save the axillary lymph nodes , avoiding the problematic side effects, such as lymphedema (an often debilitating swelling caused by accumulation of fluid/lymph), that occur when they are removed;
3. Maintain breast sensitivity, a crucial issue to many women

The decision whether or not to perform a lumpectomy depends both on the size of the tumor and the breast, the number of tumor foci (locations), and if it is possible to do radiotherapy post-surgery (usually necessary), among other factors.

Further, studies following women for more than two decade have shown that when it is possible to opt for a lumpectomy, to choose a mastectomy does not improve survival.