Mastectomy is occasionaly though rarely used as a form of local treatment of ductal in situ breast cancer. It is sometimes used to treat invasive breast cancer.

In this operation, the entire breast is removed. This surgery is done using a general anesthetic, and all of the breast tissue of the affected breast is removed.

In rare instances, a special surgical procedure called an axillary node dissection may also be performed at the same time. In this procedure lymph nodes from under the arm will be removed.

A mastectomy removes all the breast tissue from the affected breast.