New robotic breast cancer surgery offers less visible scarring, better recovery
A new robotic breast cancer surgery helps people maintain sensation and natural appearance in their breasts.
Doctors at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital are the first in the D.C. area to offer a robotic, nipple-sparing mastectomy performed through a single small incision to the natural fold beneath the breast. Surgeons leave the skin intact during the procedure, and the robotic technique can mean less pain, faster recovery and less visible scarring for patients.
“We’re doing more thoughtful surgery that is more delicate, through a little camera with little instruments that are more precise, but the benefits are better visualization, better recovery, potentially better sensation,” MedStar Georgetown breast surgeon Lucy De La Cruz said.
The procedure allows surgeons to combine several techniques during the same operation, including immediate reconstruction with a permanent implant, a lymph-node biopsy and a nerve-sparing technique designed to help preserve sensation.
The robotic procedure is best suited for women with small- to moderate-sized breasts and depends on where the tumor is located, De La Cruz said. Only about 20% of breast cancer patients are candidates for a nipple-sparing mastectomy because of the criteria.
“Ninety percent of women, they get chest wall numbness. most of the time it’s irreversible. They don’t feel hot, cold; they don’t feel if you hug them. You wouldn’t feel a hug,” De La Cruz said. “So, for women who have nipple sparing mastectomy, we have been doing the re-sensation surgery for the last four years.”
De La Cruz performed the surgery on Ami Brasure, 50, after she was diagnosed with breast cancer following a routine mammogram.
“If I have to do something I don’t want to do, which no woman wants to have a mastectomy, I said, ‘Can we at least make it cool?’” Brasure said. “And if you’re going to have what then turned out to be the first procedure at Georgetown on that machine, I think we definitely made it cool.”
Brasure had a double mastectomy this summer and said the robotic approach through a single incision made a big difference in her recovery.
“You always hear, ‘Oh, you’re going to be in pain, this is going to hurt,’ all these things. By the fourth day, very minimal pain medication,” Brasure said. “I was just using Tylenol.”
MedStar Georgetown is one of only 10 hospitals nationwide performing the surgery using robotics.
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