Surgery to remove all or part of the breast and sometimes other tissue. There are several types of mastectomies.
- Modified radical mastectomy removes the breast, skin, nipple, areola, and most of the axillary lymph nodes on the same side, leaving the chest muscles intact.
- Partial or segmental mastectomy removes only the part of the breast that has the cancer and a margin of healthy breast tissue surrounding the tumor.
- Prophylactic mastectomy is a mastectomy done before any evidence of cancer can be found, for the purpose of preventing cancer.
- Quadrantectomy is a partial mastectomy in which the quarter of the breast that has a tumor is removed.
- Simple mastectomy or total mastectomy removes only the breast and areola.

American Cancer Society. Glossary. Internet. Accessed September 3, 2017.