Does the type of surgery affect whether breast cancer can come back?

MustDefine come back: Breast cancer may "come back" in 1 of 3 ways: 1-metastatic disease (distant cancer) 2-a new2nd breast cancer 3-local recurrence w/in the same breast. 1 and 2 are unaffected by type of surgery (unless a bilateral mastectomy is done); local recurrence may be as high as 5-7% following lump-x plus radiation rx versus 1-2% after mastectomy.

No and Yes: With proper selection and an experienced surgeon - the survival rate is the same for lumpectomy (+ radiation) and a mastectomy. But even in the best hands, about 5-10% of women will have a recurrence in their breast after lumpectomy and radiation. (more common with larger tumors, younger women, and positive lymph nodes). Most of those women can be potentailly cured with mastectomy.

Yes but same survive: The survival rates for breast conservation and mastectomy are the same. There is a slightly higher rate of local recurrence for breast conservation (with radiation it should be <1% per year out to 10 years) but this does not impact survival which is the most important consideration of any cancer treatment.