“Are surgical consultations used for women receiving mastectomies?”

You are asking an interesting question. Surgery is a complicated process. Generally a primary care physician diagnoses a medical issue for which surgery is a possible treatment process. Breast cancer is one such illness. There are several approved surgical procedures that can be used for the treatment of this illness. Among these are mastectomy (removing the entire breast). Lumpectomy is also possibe in some situations. It is important for the surgeon to meet and examine the patient prior to starting any procedure. The surgeon and the patient need to discuss the possible treatment options and order the appropriate medical tests to be certain the the procedure is correct for any individual patient.

So the answer to your question is that hat a surgical consultation is the correct approach to meet the surgeon and allow the surgeon to discuss treatment approaches and possible side effects of the procedures with you.

For further information I suggest the guidelines published by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) www.nccn.org). These guidelines are available online and are updated at least annually and more often if necessary. A large group of established cancer centers in the United States develop these guidelines.

Good luck with your procedure.

Normally, they will discuss possibilities of reconstruction, risks and benefits of surgery, the need for testing of the lymph nodes and how this is done. It is generally a very lengthy discussion and a surgeon cannot take you to the operating room without this discussion and seeing if you are healthy enough for surgery or if you need any other testing like genetic testing, blood work, CXR prior to surgery.

Consultations are extremely important. First of all, not all women needed or should have a mastectomy and some women should undergo therapy prior to having a mastectomy. It is important to meet with a surgeon that has an extensive experience in the treatment of breast cancer so I would encourage you to follow through with this consultation.

You were most likely diagnosed on a needle biopsy. The next step would be to meet the surgeon. They are the ones that give you the surgical options and explain what to expect with surgery and recovery.

The relationship between a patient and a surgeon is a very important one, as important as the one between medical oncologist and patient. The training, technical approach, and options for best procedure need to be fully discussed prior to proceeding with any surgery. It is also a time to ask questions about the surgery, assess the surgeon’s experience with cases such as yours, and what outcomes they report. It is a time to see how that surgeon’s OR works, what complications and recovery time can be expected, when to return to work, and to plan any pre-surgical testing that may be required. It is important to know what the outcomes of which surgery is done, so informed consent can be truly achieved. This is vital to the patient-surgeon relationship.
It is also time to interview that surgeon, see how they interact with you and your family, how their office works, and how they support you, as you will be seeing them frequently after your surgery.
What procedure you “need” when you have Breast Cancer is best decided with your surgeon, as the surgeon is trained to evaluate surgical treatments and their outcomes, and can best guide you through the current recommendations for these treatments. Often, there are options to avoid mastectomy, and Breast Conserving Surgery May be a better option for many reasons. If mastectomy is truly the best treatment, then options and timing for reconstruction should be discussed, as well. Only you and an experienced surgeon can make these critical decisions with full disclosure of risks and benefits. These discussions should be held with a surgeon rather than a medical physician.