How effective is a mastectomy for breast cancer?

For early-stage breast cancer, having a lump or part of the breast removed (breast-conserving surgery) along with radiation therapy has the same survival rate as mastectomy. But many women still have a mastectomy, even though it is a more extensive surgery. They may be unwilling or unable to have the radiation therapy that usually follows breast-conserving surgery. Or they may feel that by having a mastectomy, they are taking every possible action they can to prevent the return of cancer.

Women who have metastatic breast cancer do not always have surgery. But one study shows that even if breast cancer is not discovered until it has already spread to other organs, survival may be increased by doing surgery to totally remove the primary tumor in the breast.