Breast cancer surgeries

• Breast conservation surgery is a procedure where only the cancer is removed while conserving the rest of the breast. The idea of breast conservation is to remove as less of tissue as possible while leaving behind a cosmetically acceptable breast.
• Mastectomy is the second type of breast cancer surgery that you need to know about. Mastectomy, also known as modified radical mastectomy, is where all the tissue in a woman’s breast, including the nipple and areola, nearby lymph nodes are removed.
• There are many other options of breast cancer surgeries that vary based on your specific needs or what your surgeon recommends. You can talk with Dr. Garvit Chitkara about which option would be best for you, but knowing these two types of surgeries will give you good insight into what to expect from your own procedure.

Oncoplastic Breast Reconstruction surgery

• Oncoplastic breast surgery is an amalgamation of onco surgery and plastic reconstruction.
• In oncoplastic breast surgery, the breast is reshaped or reconstructed using bodies own tissues or implants to partially or completely recreate the breast while ensuring a good oncological safety and outcome.
• Dr. Garvit Chitkara has been practicing breast oncoplatic surgery with excellent cosmetic and oncological results

Axillary conservation surgeries

• Like conservation of breast, conservation of axilla is also possible where instead of removing all the lymphnodes from the axilla only a small sample is removed and checked in the lab by frozen section examination.
• The small sample that is to be removed is identified either by injecting radioactive dye, indocyanine green dye or /and blue dye near the tumour.
• These lymphnodes are picked up under the guidance of a gamma or a near infra red camera.

Management of Benign breast diseases

Benign breast disease conditions are a group of diseases which can range from a simple cyst to granulomatous mastitis, these are NON cancerous diseases but can be equally unnerving and difficult to treat. Dr. Garvit Chitkara has deep knowledge and experience of treating benign breast diseases.

• Surgery to remove lumps – lumpectomy
• Oral drugs for mastitis or similar infections
• Scarless removal of Fibroadenomas using ultra modern techniques like VABB( Vaccum Assisted breast Biopsy)

VABB is used in very specific situations like benign breast tumours like Fibroadenomas,to biopsy Microcalcifications, to biopsy other lesions in the breast to rule out multicentricity.

It offers the benefit of being scarless and can be done under local anesthesia. Dr. Garvit Chitkara offers VABB regularly to all eligible patients.

Management of Breast Cancer

There are several ways to treat and manage breast cancer.  The exact approach depends upon the type of breast cancer and how much it has spread. It is likely that the patient will undergo a combination of the following treatment

• Surgery – An operation wherein the doctors remove cancer from the breast
• Chemotherapy – Medication prescribed to shrink the size of cancer cells or kill them. The medication can are generally in the form of intravenous drugs that are infused through venous canulae of chemoport.
• Hormone/ Endocrine Therapy – These are oral drugs which are used in Hormone positive breast cancer patients and help in hormonal manipulation to prevent breast cancer growth and recurrence.
• Targeted Therapy – Targeted therapy is given to breast cancer patient who have HER2neu amplified tumours. This is intravenous therapy which is given for a year and has minimal side effects.
• Radiation Therapy – The high energy rays are directed to the cancer affected organ of the body in order to destroy the cancer cells. Radiation therapy is a must when the breast is conserved, if the tumour is larger than 5 cms or if there is a spread of cancer cells to axillary Lymph nodes.