MASTECTOMY
In medicine, mastectomy is the medical term for the surgical removal of one or both breasts, partially or completely. Mastectomy is usually done to treat breast cancer; in some cases, women and some men believed to be at high risk of breast cancer have the operation prophylactically, that is, to prevent cancer rather than treat it. It is also the medical procedure carried out to remove breast cancer tissue in males.
There are a variety of types of mastectomy in use, and the type that a patient decides to undergo (or whether he or she will decide instead to have a lumpectomy) depends on factors such as size, location, and whether or not a tumor is present, what type of tumor is present, whether or not the surgery is prophylactic, and whether or not the patient intends to undergo reconstructive surgery.
(Sources: National Institutes of Health/ Wikipedia with links to Wikipedia)
