Three illustrations on a page showing mastectomy procedure. Mastectomy is the medical term for the surgical removal of one or both breasts, partially or completely. Mastectomy for breast cancer was performed at least as early as 548 AD, when it was proposed by the court physician Aetius of Amida to Theodora. No artist credited, appeared in "Trait矇 complet de l'anatomie de l'homme: comprenant la m矇dicine op矇ratoire" by Jean Baptiste Marc Bourgery and Nicolas Henri Jacob, published in the 1830s.