Women who present with tumors that

Women who present with tumors that are less than 1.5 cm or are classified as stage I and II disease are candidates for breast conservation surgery, which can be conducted in three ways: lumpectomy (the tumor is excised with a small amount of surrounding breast tissue), wide excision (removal of the tumor and a substantial amount of surrounding breast tissue), or quadrantectomy (the removal of the entire quadrant of the breast that contains the tumor along with the lining over the pectoralis major muscle and overlying skin).