Breast surgery: a narrative review

Abstract

Breast cancer is the commonest human cancer globally and one in seven Australian women will develop it in their lifetime. Surgery is the mainstay of management both for women who are at high risk of breast cancer and for those who have been diagnosed. Increased understanding of how to predict who is most at risk of breast cancer is leading to the possibility of risk-based screening, allowing better and more targeted early detection for women at high risk, and contrast imaging techniques are proving more accurate in diagnosing and staging cancer. The evolution of surgical practice includes the widespread use of oncoplastic surgery, allowing better cosmetic and oncological outcomes; reconstructive surgical advances, using free flap techniques; and sequencing of systemic and local therapies to better tailor treatments to the patient’s cancer and improve outcomes. Recognition of side effects of breast cancer treatment have led to improvement in the management of conditions such as chronic pain and lymphoedema, as well as addressing the psychosocial, body image and sexual complications caused by the cancer and its treatment.