Breast Surgical Oncology

One of the key innovations the breast cancer program utilizes is sentinel lymph node surgery. This is a less radical procedure that aims to remove the first few nodes that accept lymphatic drainage from the primary breast tumor.  Sentinel node surgery provides accurate staging and focuses on the nodes most likely to contain metastic disease from the primary tumor. This limits the surgery to what needs to be removed and leaves other healthy nodes intact. 

Skin- and nipple-sparing mastectomy are advanced surgical techniques pioneered at MD Anderson. During this type of surgery, the surgeon removes the breast tumor while saving the breast skin, nipple and areola (darker skin around the nipple). For eligible patients, this technique facilitates reconstruction with improved cosmetic outcomes. 

Our breast surgeons are leaders in minimally invasive approaches for localizing small breast tumors and lymph nodes. We have used radioactive seed localization for breast lesions too small to be seen or felt during surgery and for localizing small deposits of metastic disease in the axillary lymph nodes. With these techniques, a tiny radioactive seed is placed in the abnormal breast tissue or lymph node by the radiologist usually on the day prior to surgery. In the operating room, a probe is used to locate the seed and target the removal of the abnormal tissue, leaving normal tissue intact.