Soma (name changed), a 45-year-old homemaker, had a large breast lump, which she neglected for a year. When she finally landed up for screening at the behest of a relative who is a doctor, the growth was found to be cancerous.

Thanks to a simultaneous reconstruction surgery performed by a team of city doctors along with routine mastectomy (surgical removal of the breast), she now stands a very good chance of recovery without losing her femininity.

“The fear of deformity caused by mastectomy often prevents women from coming forward for breast cancer screening. However, with simultaneous reconstruction surgery, we can reverse the mutilation and recreate the breast,” says Manish Mukul Ghosh, a consultant plastic and reconstructive surgeon.

Ghosh is part of the surgical team of First Trust Healthcare Pvt Ltd — a group of healthcare professionals focused on treating the “middle and lower middle-class” — who performed the twin procedures last week.

The two-and-a-half-hour surgery was performed at Kalpataru Hospital in Barasat, on the city’s northern fringes, which was taken over by the trust recently and expanded into a 57-bed hospital with modern facilities.

“From the cosmetic and oncological perspective, simultaneous reconstruction is the global gold standard in breast cancer surgery. We are adopting a multi-disciplinary approach, involving a team of surgeons and reconstructive surgeons together with medical and radiation oncologists,” declares Satadal Saha, the managing director of First Trust Healthcare.

While Soma was persuaded by her relative to seek medical advice, most women usually continue to keep the problem under wraps to avoid the “embarrassment of examination”. “This is because mostly male doctors perform the screening,” said Rosina Ahmed, a gastrointestinal and general surgeon in the First Trust team.

“It’s often too late to treat the cancer as women do not come forward earlier and there’s a crater to fill up following mastectomy. So, the message to women is to come forward as soon as they find something amiss. The reconstruction procedure yields better results that way,” advises Ghosh.

“The pain relief and flexibility which the reconstruction procedure offers also allows us to start radiation therapy early,” adds Saha.

First Trust Healthcare believes in “excellence through teamwork” and is keen to join hands with women’s groups to spread awareness on breast cancer. “While I get throngs of young women turning up at my clinic with complaints of pain or lumps in the breast, older women are far more hesitant. Our objective is to tell them that breast cancer is a curable disease and surgery needn’t necessarily be mutilating,” says Ahmed.