There are several surgical options for treating a newly diagnosed breast cancer. These will be discussed with you by your breast cancer surgeon.

• Wide local exicision and Radiotherapy: The tumour and a small amount of surrounding breast tissue is simply removed from the breast. This is a good decision for women with small tumours. Removal of a small amount of tissue from the breast causes little deformity and little change in size. The scarring is minimal, the breast remains soft and sensate (ie it feels normal). However, the remaining breast tissue must receive radiotherapy to reduce the risk of local recurrence.
• Therapeutic mammaplasty and radiotherapy: The breast cancer can be removed from the breast with a larger margin of normal breast tissue (ensuring safe removal) and the remaining breast tissue can be reshaped to make a smaller, perter breast. This is a good option for women with larger cancers in larger breasts, and for those who would benefit from having their breasts made smaller. The opposite breast can be reduced to result in two symmetrical, smaller breasts. As with a Wide Local Excision, the remaining breast tissue must receive radiotherapy to reduce the risk of local recurrence.
• Mastectomy. This is usually recommended for larger tumours in smaller breasts or when there are two or more tumours in the breast. All of the breast tissue is removed. This has the lowest risk of breast cancer returning. Subsequent radiotherapy is only needed for certain tumour types. When a mastectomy is being considered, the option of breast reconstruction should always be discussed, together with the timing of any proposed breast reconstruction.