Sandra Lee Highlights Post-Mastectomy Difficulties
Complications from breast cancer surgery are rare.
— -- Weeks after undergoing a double mastectomy, Sandra Lee was forced to seek further treatment for a complication, shedding light on the difficulties women can face after surgery.
"There was a setback [on Tuesday night] due to what may be an infection post-mastectomy," a rep for Lee told ABC News. "But Sandra is her ever-fighting self."
Details about the complication were not immediately released, but experts say complications can occur in about 2 to 5 percent of women after breast-cancer surgery.
Dr. Julian Kim, division chief of Surgical Oncology at University Hospitals Case Medical Center, said overall breast cancer surgery is very safe, but that ever surgery has some risk.
"The things that are common to all of them is infection," Kim said of various breast-cancer surgeries. "Most patients get antibiotics during surgery, and most infections can be treated with oral antibiotics."
He said if a woman has sought reconstructive surgery, an infectious near an implant site might necessitate hospitalization and intravenous antibiotics.
Another common complication of surgery can be fluid build-up.
Kim said to prevent fluid from building up, which can lead to increased risk of infection and other complications, doctors will place drains in the patient to help them heal more quickly.
"You balance between leaving the drain too long and you risk infection versus you leave the drain long enough to make sure all the fluid is [gone,]" he explained.
Occasionally, the drain itself can lead to an infection that requires medication. Kim said early infection will usually involve redness of the skin and that as it progresses it can lead to fever, chills or fatigue.
Complications will usually appear within a few weeks of a procedure, but most are easily treatable. He stressed the surgery is generally safe and people should not be dissuaded from seeking treatment because of fears over complications.
"[No] surgery has a complication rate that is zero," he explained. "People when they go into surgery they need to be informed about what the actual risks are."