Mastectomy is removal of the breast. Other nearby tissue may also be removed if it appears that cancer may have spread to these areas.
All mastectomies remove the whole breast. Because the size and location of tumors and where the cancer might have spread differ from one person to another, the amount of other tissue removed during surgery also varies.
Radical mastectomy is the removal of the breast, chest muscles, and all of the lymph nodes under the arm (axillary lymph node dissection).