Coimbra Local Health Unit performs first endoscopic breast surgery

The Coimbra Local Health Unit (ULS) performed, for the first time, an endoscopic breast surgery (mastectomy), which allows women to recover faster, with less pain and better aesthetic results.

“This type of surgery, performed in coordination with plastic surgery, allows, with just a small incision (of about three centimeters), the removal of all breast tissue endoscopically and the placement of a breast prosthesis in the same surgical procedure,” explained the ULS, in a statement.

The note highlighted that, in breast cancer, endoscopic surgery allows for a mastectomy with preservation of the skin and nipple, with the immediate placement of breast implants through just a small incision.

According to Olga Caramelo, a specialist in Gynecological Oncology at the ULS in Coimbra, “the minimally invasive approach has played a very important role in oncology.”

The doctor emphasized that endoscopic surgery allows for “better aesthetic results, faster recovery with less postoperative pain and even fewer complications after breast implant placement.”

This intervention is indicated for situations that include “extensive in situ carcinomas, invasive carcinomas and women carrying BRCA 1 or BRCA 2 pathogenic variants, who wish to undergo breast risk-reducing surgery”.

"This surgical innovation reinforces the leadership of the Coimbra University of Health (ULS) in oncology, offering our National Health Service patients more advanced, less invasive treatments and a better quality of life after surgery," congratulated the chairman of the board of directors, Alexandre Lourenço.