UMC El Paso performs first endoscopic nipple-sparing mastectomy for breast cancer treatment

Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers, and UMC El Paso is announcing a new surgery available for patients looking for minimally invasive treatment and quicker recovery.

They've performed the first endoscopic nipple-sparing mastectomy, and UMC says they're happy to provide a treatment of cancer that has less of an aesthetic burden on the patient.

UMC El Paso surgeons say one in eight women will get breast cancer during their lifetime. 

The local hospital is among only a handful of clinics in the United States who offer this technique.

With conventional nipple sparing mastectomies, the surgeons create a big incision in order to fit their hands inside and search with retractors and has poor lighting and visualization.

This endoscopic one provides a camera that goes into a small port, it has its own light source and uses carbon dioxide to expand the tissue, allowing for great visibility.

Dr. Alonso Andrade, a general surgeon who performs the mastectomy, says it can also be for those with high risk mutation.

"If we want to do a mastectomy to decrease their risk of developing breast cancer, these are patients that are candidates for it," says Andrade. "But, it will depend on the patient's tumor size, how far away it is from the nipple, also sometimes even the shape of the breast can affect whether somebody is a candidate or not.'

The conventional mastectomy removes the breast tissue along with removal of skin, the nipple and the areola.

Meanwhile, the nipple-sparing mastectomy preserves the skin below the nipple and areola and solely removes the breast gland, which Andrade says is the main part that can develop cancer.

The endoscopic surgery uses small tools and maintains more of the breast tissue to help keep more of a natural appearance and reduce scarring . 

In terms of cosmetic outcome, Dr. Stephanie Nemir, UMC plastic and reconstruction surgeon says this is the "optimal" one.

"I think that this is just a really exciting approach to treating breast cancer in a minimally invasive way," says Nemir. "We went from mastectomies being a huge deal, a huge scar, a very disfiguring procedure, and we are getting to where using our technology, we're able to really make this more and more accessible and more and more available, with a minimum downtime and a minimum scar burden for the patients."  

Nemir says she knows a lot of women who are worried about the financial burden of having breast cancer, but she says all insurances should cover this as a cancer treatment and doesn't want women avoid getting treated.

Andrade also mentioned that the first step is getting screened — early detection with mammograms is what he says saves lives and creates less risk.