Anna Sanchez Seydel, MD, FACS, Editor

Lee G. Wilke, MD, FACS, Editor

As surgeons who trained in general surgery before breast surgery became its own discipline, we as editors of this Surgical Clinics issue find the expanse of changes benefiting individuals with breast cancer to be remarkable. The surgical giants, Drs Seymour Schwartz, Folkert Belzer, and David Sabiston, could never have foreseen the advancements in specialty breast cancer care. It is hard to believe that we began our training before the routine use of core needle biopsy, sentinel lymph node biopsy, and full-panel genetic testing. Indeed, many of the debates of our training, is axillary node dissection diagnostic or therapeutic?, do you have to take the nipple areolar complex at the time of mastectomy?, can chemotherapy be given prior to surgery?, have now been clinically proven. The evolution of breast cancer surgery has followed the results of clinical trials, which have proven “less is more” in a much needed effort to improve cosmetic outcomes and quality of life for our patients.