Our Services
At the HonorHealth Cancer Care Comprehensive Breast Center of Arizona, you will find not only the compassionate care you are looking for but also the highest-quality breast surgeons in the Phoenix valley performing an array of surgical and non-surgical services to suit your needs. We offer diagnostic and minimally-invasive surgeries, axillary biopsies and surgeries, mastectomies, as well as second opinions, brachytherapy catheter placement, and more.
Diagnostic Techniques and Breast Conserving Surgeries
Needle Biopsies
Generally preferred over operative biopsies, these are done with local anesthesia and take a small amount of tissue while using image guidance, to make a diagnosis of benign or malignant breast disease. They may be done in one of our offices with ultrasound guidance, or for certain imaging abnormalities, at a hospital or free-standing radiology facility using mammogram or MRI guidance.
Duct Excision
Often performed for abnormal nipple discharge or a small growth inside a milk duct, this outpatient procedure removes the last portion of a few or all of the ducts.
Oncoplastic Surgery
This innovative approach to the treatment of breast cancer utilizes plastic surgery techniques to reshape the remaining breast or reconstruct the breast after excision of a malignancy. It may also include correcting any imbalance relative to the unaffected breast.
Wire or Needle Localization Techniques
A procedure done to target the abnormal area in the breast when it cannot be felt on examination; it may use a wire, radioactive seed, radiofrequency device or other techniques. it is usually performed by your surgeon or a radiologist prior to surgery, although it may be, at times, performed intraoperatively.
Lumpectomy
Also known as breast-conserving surgery, segmental mastectomy, quadrantectomy, partial mastectomy or wide local excision, this technique removes just the tumor and a small amount of normal surrounding tissue. Typically, this is performed for early-stage breast cancer, and if the tumor is small in size compared to the size of your breast. When done for cancer, some of your lymph nodes may also be removed during the same operation to obtain the proper staging of your tumor. Radiation therapy is usually recommended following a lumpectomy done for cancer to reduce recurrence rates.
Excisional Biopsy
Done in the operating room when a needle biopsy cannot be obtained or is inconclusive, this surgical procedure removes a palpable or imaging abnormality for diagnosis.
Axillary Surgeries
Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy
Using special dyes, this procedure samples the first few lymph nodes in the underarm which drain the breast in order to determine spread of disease and stage.
Axillary Node Dissection
Removal of more lymph nodes than in the Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy--this procedure may be done when the cancer is already known to have spread to the lymph nodes.
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Simple/Total
The breast is removed but the lymph nodes under the arm and muscle tissue beneath the breast are not removed. It may be combined with lymph node sampling, such as the sentinel lymph node biopsy. It may be done prophylactically, for risk reduction.
Modified Radical
In this procedure, the entire breast including the nipple and areolar complex and all of the underarm lymph nodes are removed. This is typically done for certain types of aggressive breast cancers or locally advanced disease that has already spread outside the breast.
Skin-Sparing
For women opting for immediate breast reconstruction, much of the skin is left intact allowing for a more natural looking reconstructed breast. This procedure is performed in coordination with a reconstructive plastic surgeon.
Prophylactic Mastectomy
Usually performed on the unaffected breast for risk reduction when a woman is undergoing a mastectomy for breast cancer. It may also be done for women with a high risk of getting breast cancer.
Nipple/Areolar Sparing
When possible, based on physiological factors of the tumor and aesthetic concerns, this technique preserves the nipple and areola and is combined with immediate reconstruction.
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Radical Mastectomy
Rarely if ever performed anymore, in this procedure the surgeon removes the entire breast, all of the underarm lymph nodes, and chest wall muscles under the breast. This procedure may also include removal of ribs to control disease.