Though it would seem to make sense that if someone has a mastectomy they are "worse off" than someone who "just needs a lumpectomy," things are not always what they seem.

Take the case of a woman who has stage 0 ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), a non-invasive breast cancer. DCIS is not life threatening but it may be extensive, occupying more than one quadrant of the breast. So even though the quality of her breast cancer is fairly benign, its quantity requires mastectomy. Surgery to remove the breast may be all the treatment she needs, however.

On the other hand, a woman with a 2.1 cm invasive ductal tumor may be getting a lumpectomy, even though her breast cancer is more serious than that of the woman above, who needed mastectomy surgery.

An invasive ductal tumor means stage 2 breast cancer or higher, which is a life-threatening cancer capable of traveling from her breast to the lymph nodes, or through her bloodstream to another organ site. This type of invasive disease will probably require chemotherapy and definitely radiation and it is also far more likely to recur than is the stage 0 breast cancer.

So, don't try to judge the severity of a breast cancer by the type of breast surgery recommended to treat it. There is a much bigger picture to consider before deciding how good or not-so-good someone's breast cancer situation is, or how long or not-so-long their life may turn out to be.