ABSTRACT
Surgical management of invasive and in situ disease can range from wide local excision to total mastectomy. With the emergence of oncoplastic techniques, more patients now have the choice of cancer excision while preserving the breast shape and thus avoiding mastectomy. However, many patients with early breast cancer undergo mastectomy either because of an unfavorable location of the tumor (proximity to the nipple) and its aggressiveness or because the patient prefers this option to breast conservation (perhaps because of a perceived minimization of risk of future disease in the same breast).
