Breast Center

A “modified radical mastectomy” involves removing the remove entire breast. Sentinel lymph node biopsy may or may not be performed at that time. A radical mastectomy removes the breast, lymph nodes, and also the chest wall muscles under the breast, a procedure usually performed only if the cancer has spread to the chest walls. Patients typically spend the night in the hospital after a mastectomy.

A surgical excisional biopsy removes the breast lesion – as well as a small portion of surrounding tissue – from the breast. The patient will undergo radiation therapy, if the results are positive following a lumpectomy to help ensure that the cancer cells in the breast have been destroyed. Most often, patients can go home the same day of the operation.

Breast reconstruction is usually for women who have had a mastectomy. The JFK Medical Center’s plastic surgeons on staff rebuild the breast mound to replicate the size and shape of the breast that existed before the mastectomy. Surgeons can also add the nipple and the darker area around the nipple (the areola) during reconstructive surgery.

Women who have had a lumpectomy are less likely to need reconstructive surgery, but in some cases it can also be offered.