Mastectomy and Its Relevance in Today’s Era

Mastectomy or removal of breasts with axillary lymph node dissection remained the gold standard treatment for breast cancer for almost a century until evidence emerged favouring the feasibility of more conservative approaches such as breast conservation therapy and sentinel lymph node biopsy. Over the years, there has been an evolution of modalities of adjuvant therapy as well, thereby obviating the need of radical surgeries in all cases. With time, there has been serial modifications in the technique of mastectomy also from incision, extent and other aspects to the description of relatively modern procedures such as skin and nipple sparing and skin sparing mastectomy. In spite of shrinking indications, mastectomy remains a relevant technique even today. In this chapter, we shall discuss the current technique of mastectomy, its current indications and relevance in the modern era of conservative approaches.