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Finding out that you have breast cancer can be a terrifying situation, but you are not alone. The American Cancer Society estimates 207,090 women will develop invasive breast cancer in 2010. Many survive breast cancer, and go on to thrive, with many ever-changing and developing breast cancer treatments. The most common breast cancer treatments are surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy. The three forms of surgery include a breast-conserving surgery called a lumpectomy, the removal of the breast, called a mastectomy, and lymph node dissection. A lumpectomy is when a surgeon removes only the malignant tumor and a small amount of surrounding tissue. The most intrusive surgery, a mastectomy is defined by the removal of all the breast tissue. However, mastectomies are now more refined and less intrusive than they used to be, because in most cases the muscles under the breast are no longer removed. If the biopsy shows that breast cancer has spread outside the milk duct, a lymph node dissection can be performed to remove the lymph nodes during a lumpectomy or mastectomy.

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