New Concept in Management of Breast Cancer _ The Multidisciplinary Approach

Surgery has been the mainstay of treatment of breast cancer for almost a whole century since Halsted popularised his radical mastectomy in 1894. He believed that breast cancer metastasised by local spread, and therefore en bloc resection of the affected breast with the overlying skin, pectoral muscles and the entire axillary contents was necessary. In those days, breast cancer often presented as a fungating or ulcerating mass, with satellite nodules and massive axillary lymphadenopathy. Survival was poor despite such radical surgery with 13% survival.