- For Appointment:
- +91 63590 11009
- Chat on Whatsapp
Robotic-assisted nipple-sparing mastectomy for selected women, at Apollo Hospital, Bhat, Gandhinagar–Ahmedabad.
Robotic-assisted mastectomy in Ahmedabad is offered by Dr Swapnil Sharma, MS, FMAS, DrNB (Surgical Oncology), Consultant Surgical Oncologist, at Apollo Hospital International Ltd, Bhat, Gandhinagar. It is offered to selected women only, and this page sets out who they are.
Shah’s Gastro, Cancer & Robotic Surgery Centre. Breast cancer treatment is planned with medical oncology, radiation oncology, radiology and pathology together; every case is discussed at the tumour board before an approach is chosen.
Dr Swapnil Sharma
MS, FMAS, DrNB (Surgical Oncology)
Consultant Surgical Oncologist, Apollo Bhat
Google rating 5.0, 25 reviews — Apollo, Bhat listing.
Robotic-assisted mastectomy is a nipple-sparing mastectomy done through a small cut at the edge of the armpit instead of a cut across the breast. It is the same cancer operation with a different route in.
In a nipple-sparing mastectomy the whole of the breast tissue is removed, while the skin envelope and the nipple are kept. The breast is then rebuilt at the same sitting, usually with an implant placed under the kept skin. Done openly, this needs a cut on the breast itself, often in the fold beneath it or around the edge of the areola.
In the robotic-assisted version, the cut sits at the side of the chest, at the edge of the armpit, where the arm usually covers it. Through it the robotic camera and instruments work under the skin, lifting the breast tissue off the skin and off the chest muscle. The tissue comes out through the same cut.
It is not a different cancer treatment. It does not remove more or less tissue, it does not change how the armpit is checked, and it does not change what treatment follows. It is a way of reaching the same tissue with the scar in a different place.
It is also not a lumpectomy. Removing a lump while keeping the breast is already a small operation through a short cut close to the lump, and a robot adds nothing to it. That operation is set out on the breast conservation surgery page.
All of the following need to hold. If one does not, the open operation is usually the safer choice.
A second group it can suit is women having a risk-reducing mastectomy because of an inherited gene change such as BRCA1 or BRCA2, with no cancer in the breast. Here there is no tumour near the skin to worry about, and keeping the skin and nipple with a hidden scar is often what matters most to them. The decision to have a risk-reducing operation at all is made first, with genetic counselling, and separately from the question of approach.
An open operation is advised when the cancer involves the skin or nipple, is large or in several places, is inflammatory, when the breast is large or droopy, or when it has had radiotherapy before.
Swipe sideways to see the whole table.
| Situation | Why the open operation is advised |
|---|---|
| Tumour involving the skin or the nipple | The skin or the nipple has to be removed with the cancer. There is nothing to preserve. |
| Large tumour, or several tumours in different parts of the breast | Complete removal with a clear margin matters far more than where the scar sits. |
| Inflammatory breast cancer | The whole skin envelope is involved. Keeping it is never safe. |
| Large or very droopy breast | The instruments cannot reach all the tissue reliably from the armpit, and the kept skin may not survive. |
| Previous radiotherapy or heavy scarring | The tissue planes are unreliable and the skin heals poorly. |
| A lump that can be removed with the breast kept | Breast conservation is the smaller operation. Mastectomy is not done for the sake of a robotic approach. |
| No wish for reconstruction | Without rebuilding the breast, a hidden scar brings little. A standard mastectomy is simpler and shorter. |
Being advised against the robotic-assisted approach is not being offered a lesser cancer operation. It is the right operation for that breast. Most women who need a mastectomy have a standard open operation, set out on the mastectomy page.
The breast tissue removed is the whole of the breast tissue, exactly as in an open nipple-sparing mastectomy. The surgeon’s aim is the same clear margin. The tissue goes to the pathologist in the same way and the report reads the same way.
The lymph nodes under the arm are checked in the same way. Usually that is a sentinel node biopsy, done through the same cut at the armpit. If the nodes are known to carry disease, a fuller clearance of the armpit may be needed, and that changes the plan.
What follows the operation — radiotherapy, chemotherapy, hormone tablets or targeted treatment — is decided by the stage, the receptor status (ER, PR, HER2) and the pathology report, never by how the tissue came out.
A robotic-assisted mastectomy takes longer under anaesthesia than an open one, costs more, and rests on a shorter record of long-term results, even though what is removed is the same.
Time under anaesthesia. Setting up the robot and working through a small cut takes longer than an open operation. Longer anaesthesia is a real trade-off and is weighed for each woman, not waved away.
Cost. The robotic instruments and the theatre time add to the bill. Insurance policies differ on whether they meet the difference.
Experience behind it. The approach is newer in breast surgery than in abdominal and pelvic surgery, so the long-term record behind it is shorter. The cancer operation underneath it — nipple-sparing mastectomy — is well established.
The skin and nipple. Whichever way a nipple-sparing mastectomy is done, the kept skin and nipple depend on a thin blood supply. Part of it can heal slowly or, less often, lose its blood supply and need further treatment. This is discussed before consent.
None of this rules the approach out. It means the decision is made one woman at a time, with the reasons said out loud, rather than by default.
The point of keeping the skin and the nipple is to rebuild the breast inside them at the same operation. Most often this is done with an implant placed under the kept skin, sometimes with a mesh or tissue layer to support it. Where an implant is not suitable, other ways of rebuilding are discussed.
Reconstruction has its own decisions — the size and shape wanted, the effect of radiotherapy if it is likely to follow, and a possible second, smaller operation later to fine-tune symmetry. These are set out on the oncoplastic surgery and reconstruction page. If radiotherapy is likely after surgery, the timing and type of reconstruction may change, and that can tip the decision towards an open operation or a delayed rebuild.
It rests on the scans, the biopsy, and an examination, and it is made after the tumour board has agreed that mastectomy is the right operation. Four questions settle it:
If the answers fit, the robotic-assisted approach is offered with the trade-offs set out above. If they do not, the reason is explained and the open operation is planned. Either way you leave the consultation knowing which operation, why, and what happens next.
Not across the board. The same breast tissue is removed either way, and the cancer treatment that follows is the same. What the robotic-assisted approach can change is where the scar sits. That matters a great deal to some women and very little to others.
Women having a nipple-sparing mastectomy whose tumour is away from the skin and the nipple, whose breast is small to moderate in size without marked droop, and who want the breast rebuilt at the same sitting. It also suits some women having a risk-reducing mastectomy because of an inherited gene change.
A tumour involving the skin or the nipple, a large tumour or several tumours across the breast, inflammatory breast cancer, a large or droopy breast, and a breast that has had radiotherapy before. In those situations an open operation is the right operation.
It is not offered. A lumpectomy is already a small operation through a short cut close to the lump, and the robot adds nothing to it.
It holds the camera and the instruments, which pass through a small cut at the edge of the armpit. Dr Swapnil Sharma controls them from a console in the same theatre. The judgement and the operation are his.
It costs more than the same mastectomy done open, because of the robotic instruments and the longer theatre time. Whether insurance meets the difference depends on the policy. A written estimate is given before the date is fixed.
It is decided on the scans, the biopsy and an examination, not on the phone. Call +91 63555 64601 to fix a time with Dr Swapnil Sharma at Apollo Hospital, Bhat, and bring every report.
The other breast operations each have their own page.
Swipe sideways to see the whole table.
| Page | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Breast cancer surgery in Ahmedabad | The whole breast service in one place: the operations, the order of treatment, and recovery. |
| Mastectomy: simple and modified radical | The standard open mastectomy, which most women who need a mastectomy have. |
| Breast conservation surgery (lumpectomy) | Removing the cancer and keeping the breast, followed by radiotherapy. |
| Oncoplastic surgery and reconstruction | Reshaping or rebuilding the breast, at the same sitting or later. |
| Sentinel node biopsy and axillary surgery | How the armpit nodes are checked, and when more of them need to come out. |
Apollo Hospital International Ltd, Bhat — consultation and surgery
Plot No. 1A, GIDC Bhat, Industrial Estate, Gandhinagar, Gujarat 382428
Directions in Google Maps
Phone: +91 63555 64601 · WhatsApp
Last updated: 3 October 2026. Reviewed by Dr Swapnil Sharma, MS, FMAS, DrNB (Surgical Oncology), Consultant Surgical Oncologist.
This page is for information. It is not a substitute for an examination and a personal opinion.
Bring the mammogram, ultrasound, MRI if done, and the biopsy report to the first visit. Call to fix a time. Call +91 63555 64601 · Ask on WhatsApp
Swasth Parivar: twice a month, practical advice on recovery, diet and warning signs. No advertising. Stop any time.
Your number is used for these updates and for the clinic to reach you. It is never sold or passed on. To stop, reply STOP on WhatsApp.
