If the skin of your breasts appears dimpled or pitted, changing the contour of your breasts, your doctor will examine your breasts, first visually, then manually. Since the major cause of dimpled, pitted skin is a lump in the breast, your doctor will probably perform a biopsy to determine whether or not the lump is a benign or malignant tumor.
If the lump is benign, your doctor will determine if it is a cyst or a fibroadenoma, a benign tumor. If, however, the lump is malignant, your doctor will have several treatment options. These include a lumpectomy, in which only the lump is removed; a mastectomy, in which the breast is removed, or a modified radical mastectomy, in which the breast is removed along with some of the lymph nodes that extend into the armpit. A radical mastectomy was common up until the early 1980s; today, it is relatively rare. In this procedure, the breast, lymph nodes, and pectoral muscles were typically removed, which resulted in a loss of range of motion for the arm on that side of the body. Today, a radical mastectomy is considered only when the cancerous cells have metastasized, or spread, to the pectoral muscles. Otherwise, a modified radical mastectomy leaves the pectoral muscles intact.
*390\167\8*
RelatedPosts:
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.