What If I Have Two Different Tumors In Different Parts Of My Breast?

— -- Question: What if I have two different tumors in different parts of my breast, such as the upper-outer area and the lower-inner area?

Answer: The important thing to remember about breast surgery is you have to remove all of the cancer. So if you have two different tumors in the breast that are not connected, that indicates a pretty high probability that there may be other small cancers in the breast that are forming, that we may not even see or may not be aware of. And generally speaking, when we have cancers arising from different parts of the breast, we have to do a mastectomy to remove all the breast tissue, to be sure of removing all of the cancer. In some cases we don't have to do that, but certainly mastectomy has to be considered in all situations where you have what we call 'multiple tumors.'

Next: What Does The Grade Of The Tumor, Rate Of Cell Growth And Differentiation Mean?

Previous: Is it normal to have both invasive and non-invasive (in-situ) breast cancer in the same tumor?