There are several common causes of breast lumps in men and women including benign breast changes, breast infection or injury, medicine related lumps or breast pain, and breast cancer.
Our Surgeons specialize in the following treatments of common breast problems:
A core needle biopsy uses a hollow needle to withdraw small cores of tissue from the abnormal area in the breast. This is most often done with local anesthesia (you are awake but your breast is numbed). The needle is put in 3 to 6 times to get the samples. This procedure can cause some bruising, but usually does not leave scars inside or outside the breast.
An excisional biopsy removes the entire mass or abnormal area, as well as a surrounding margin of normal-looking breast tissue., This type of procedure is usually done under a local anesthesia (where you are awake, but your breast is numb). You may also be given medicine to make you drowsy.
During an excisional breast biopsy, the surgeon may use a procedure called wire localization if there is a small lump that is hard to find by touch, or if an area looks suspicious on the x-ray but cannot be felt. After the area is numbed with local anesthetic, a thin, hollow needle is put into the breast and x-ray views are used to guide the needle to the suspicious area. A very thin wire is put in through the center of the needle. A small hook at the end of the wire keeps it in place. The hollow needle is then removed, and the wire is left to guide the surgeon to the abnormal area.
A lumpectomy removes a tumor and a small amount of normal tissue around it. Lumpectomy is also called breast-conserving or breast-sparing surgery because unlike a mastectomy only a portion of the breast is removed.
A total mastectomy removes the whole breast that has cancer. This procedure also is called a simple mastectomy. Some of the lymph nodes under the arm may be removed for biopsy at the same time as the breast surgery or after. This is done through a separate incision.
A partial mastectomy removes the part of the breast that has cancer and some normal tissue around it.
A modified radical mastectomy removes the whole breast that has cancer, many of the lymph nodes under the arm, the lining over the chest muscles, and sometimes, part of the chest wall muscles.
A sentinel lymph node biopsy is a way of learning if cancer has spread to the lymph nodes under the arm without removing all of them. The procedure involves injecting a radioactive marker and blue dye into the area of the tumor. The dye is absorbed into the lymphatic system and identifies the “sentinel node”, or the node that is closest to the tumor. The surgeon is able to accurately identify and remove the sentinel node and send it to the pathologist for precise diagnosis. If they are free of cancer, further lymph node surgery might not be needed.
