Conservative & Reconstructive Surgery

What is breast conservative and reconstructive surgery?

The aim of conservative surgery is to preserve part of the breast after complete resection of cancer. This allows to perform reconstructive surgery, when the oncoplastic breast surgeon creates a more natural breast shape using an implant, a flap of tissue from another part of your body or adipose tissue (fat) harvested from your abdomen or thighs (fat-transfer technique). 

Reconstructive surgery can be performed at the same time as the cancer excision or delayed by months or even years, depending on individual circumstances.

Breast-conserving surgery is possible when the size of the tumour in relation to the breast allows complete removal of the tumour with enough breast tissue left to be reshaped to provide good esthetic results.

Paramount is the complete removal of cancer.

What to expect from the procedure?

Surgery is done under general anaesthetic as a day case or with an overnight stay in hospital. 

During the procedure, the cancer is removed with a rim of normal breast tissue to obtain complete eradication with clear margins. 

The residual healthy breast tissue can be shifted into the resected area in which the tumour was located, to reduce the deformity and scarring.

In some cases of large breast tumours or when the lesion is situated in certain positions, breast reduction surgical techniques are used to relocate the nipple-areola into a better position. The result is a natural shape but a smaller breast. Surgery to alter the opposite healthy breast can provide symmetry between the breasts.

When an excision of a large tumour does not allow a satisfactory cosmetic result with the approach described above, it is sometimes possible to replace the missing volume using a nearby flap of tissue or perform a mastectomy with or without immediate breast reconstruction.