Lumpectomy

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A surgical technique is employed to excise a tumor along with a thin layer of surrounding tissue, primarily focused on treating breast cancer to conserve the overall shape of the breast
2. This procedure entails the removal of a localized growth together with adjacent healthy tissue, with the aim of effectively managing breast cancer while optimizing aesthetic outcomes
3. A medical surgical procedure where a tumor and some surrounding healthy tissue are removed to address breast cancer while preserving breast appearance

Etymology: Surgeons have long dressed up their most unwelcome procedures in Greek, and "lumpectomy" is a plain example. The second half comes from the Greek "ektomē", a cutting out, built from "ek", meaning "out", and "temnein", to cut. English adopted that combining form as "-ectomy", so the suffix shows up in names for removing a part of the body, such as appendectomy and tonsillectomy. "Lumpectomy" simply pairs the English word "lump" with that suffix, so the term names the removal of a lump rather than the whole breast. It is a compound of modern coinage, built from familiar parts rather than inherited from ancient medicine, and its meaning is transparent to anyone who knows the suffix.

Synonyms: surgery