Researchers at Shinshu University School of Medicine have developed a technique to take out the entire mammary gland including early-stage breast cancer without damaging the skin of breast. Many patients abandon breast-conserving surgery because of multiple tumors. However, this method prevents breast deformity, facilitating such patients. The procedure assisted by endoscopy can carry out skin-sparing mastectomy, while providing desired appearance.

A little more than 5% of patients undergoing breast surgery developed infections at the incision site, resulting in more than $4,000 extra hospital-related costs per patient, according to research reported in the January Archives of Surgery. The research headed by Dr. Margaret A. Olsen of the Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis showed that 50 of the 949 women studied, who had undergone mastectomy or breast reconstruction, developed surgical site infections within a year.