Although benign lumps don t turn into cancer, cancerous lumps can develop near benign lumps and can be hidden on a mammogram. About 80 percent of all breast lumps examined by diagnostic tests are not cancerous. Surgery is the initial treatment for breast cancer. Treatment for most breast cancers is typically a combination of surgery and radiation therapy, hormone therapy or chemotherapy. Your breast and underarm lymph nodes are removed, but your chest muscles are left intact.
Breast reconstruction is less complicated, and arm swelling is uncommon.
In a lumpectomy, the surgeon removes the tumor plus a surrounding area of normal tissue. He or she also may remove some lymph nodes to check for possible spread of cancer. Surgery is followed by radiation therapy to kill any remaining cancer cells. The choice between a mastectomy and breast-conserving therapy is an individual decision. Factors such as location and size of the tumor, and contour and size of your breast also affect selection of surgery.