Position statement on defining and standardizing an oncoplastic approach to breast-conserving surgery in Canada.

Although mastectomy is an effective procedure, it can have a negative effect on body image, sense of attractiveness, and sexuality. As opposed to the combination of breast oncologic surgery and plastic surgery, whose primary focus is on replacing lost volume, breast-conserving oncoplastic surgery (ops) redistributes remaining breast tissue in a manner that requires vision, anatomic knowledge, and an appreciation of esthetics, symmetry, and breast function. Modern surgical treatment of breast cancer can be realized only with breast and plastic surgeons working together using oncoplastic techniques to deliver superior cosmetic and cancer outcomes alike. Using this collaborative approach, oncologic and plastic surgeons in Canada have a significant opportunity to improve the care of their breast cancer patients. We propose a tri-level classification for volume displacement procedures to act as a rubric for the training of general surgeons and oncologic breast surgeons in oncoplastic breast-conserving therapy techniques. It is our position that ops enhances outcomes for many women with breast cancer and should become part of the standard repertoire of procedures used by Canadian oncologic surgeons treating breast cancer.

Standardization of the surgical technique in breast-conserving treatment of mammary cancer.

A number of designations--for example excision, wide excision, lumpectomy, tylectomy, extended tylectomy, partial mastectomy, tumorectomy, segmental resection and quadrantectomy--have been applied to operative procedures aimed at treating mammary carcinoma with preservation of the breast. None of them, however, has been explicitly linked to a defined surgical technique and there is no consensus about the terminology. We propose a simple classification system for breast-conserving procedures, which can facilitate the communication between surgeons and the interpretation and exchange of scientific data. We also describe a strictly defined and locally radical partial mastectomy--a sector resection--which has been used at several centres in Sweden for more than 5 years with a favourable outcome so far in terms of local tumour control and the cosmetic result.