While a double mastectomy (surgical removal of both breasts) may seem like the best way to prevent breast cancer from spreading, a new study suggests it has no effect on survival rates.
a study A study led by the Institute for Research and Innovation at Women’s College Hospital in Canada found that women diagnosed with cancer in one breast don’t have a higher chance of survival if they have the other breast removed as a preventative measure. Researchers found that while the risk of developing cancer in the other breast decreased by 88%, the mortality rate remained the same because cancer cells can spread to other parts of the body.
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The study, published Thursday in JAMA Oncology, looked at 108,084 breast cancer patients over a 20-year period. Patients who had a unilateral or lumpectomy (surgery to remove cancer from one breast) had a 6.9% risk of developing cancer in the other breast, compared with 0.7% for those who had a double mastectomy. But the mortality rates were similar for all three surgical procedures: 16.7% for unilateral mastectomy, 16.3% for lumpectomy and 16.7% for double mastectomy.
“It seems like a contradiction,” said researcher Stephen Narod of Women’s College Hospital. STAT News“If you have contralateral breast cancer, you are at higher risk of dying. But preventing it doesn’t improve your survival.”
But for women with the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutations that greatly increase their risk of breast cancer, doctors still recommend double mastectomy, a procedure that may reduce anxiety for others.
But for other women, experts say the findings may offer some reassurance about the option.
“This suggests that there is absolutely no difference in survival rates whether you have a lumpectomy, a mastectomy or a double mastectomy,” said Dr. Eric Weiner, director of the Yale Cancer Center. The New York Times.
Dr. Angela DeMichele, co-leader of the breast cancer program at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, told the paper that the study offers a rigorous analysis compared to previous studies that have shown similar results: Surgery may not improve survival rates compared to other treatment options because breast cancer can spread to other places.
“That’s why chemotherapy and hormone therapy are so important,” DeMichele says. “They’re designed to kill these cells.”
