Dr. Brigid Killelea on Nipple-Sparing Mastectomy for Breast Cancer

Brigid Killelea, MD, MPH, FACS, associate professor of surgery (oncology), Yale Cancer Center, discusses the potential of nipple-sparing mastectomy for women who undergo surgery for breast cancer.

The data around nipple-sparing mastectomy, also referred to as total skin-sparing mastectomy, are very exciting, says Killelea.

This is a more challenging operation, but it really gives a superior outcome in terms of cosmesis, she says. Most of the recent studies have been very encouraging, and have not shown any increase in the risk of recurrence for patients that undergo nipple-sparing mastectomy, if they are selected properly.