Palliative Modified Radical Mastectomy to Improve Quality of Life by Decreasing Disease Burden: A Case Report

Abstract

In cases of advanced pathology, palliative medicine is able to confer a great deal of relief to the patient. In the same light, surgical intervention is able to provide increased quality of life in cases of extensive disease burden, providing palliation where curative measures cannot be achieved. In the case study therein, a patient presents with metastatic breast cancer with a localized fungating mass contributing to severe local and systemic symptomatology. In this setting, invasive management of her disease allowed for clinical improvement of the patient when medical management alone was not sufficient. The patient quickly demonstrated recovery of her symptoms in the post-operative phase when the local disease was resected. The utilization of invasive measures, as seen in this case, further proves the importance of multidisciplinary palliative care where surgical measures are included in patient care.