More and more women suffering from breast cancer screened at an early stage opt for prophylaxis double mastectomy: they choose to have their healthy breast removed at the same time as the one affected by a tumor in order to reduce the future risk of new cancer. Now a study just presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Surgeons shows that young women who suffer from sporadic breast cancer (that is, do not have a history of cancer in their family) have a better quality of life when ‘they only do a simple mastectomy.
Post-operative risks doubled
“Double mastectomy poses almost double the risk of postoperative complications. On the other hand, there is no strong evidence that prophylactic mastectomy improves survival of women with sporadic breast cancer “says Professor Nicolas Ajkay, assistant professor of surgery at the University of Louisville (United States) and lead author of this study.
“Even in the worst-case scenario, we found that the costs and quality of life were higher for unilateral mastectomy,” adds the doctor who conducted this study to help patients and their surgeons in the decision-making process. Indeed, in addition to the higher costs, the double mastectomy would involve “approximately three months of struggle with possible surgical complications for breast reconstruction, a loss of productivity and significant emotional difficulties” affirms Pr Ajkay.
The doctor warns, however, that his recommendations are only for women under the age of 50 with non-familial breast cancer. They do not apply to women having a family riskor genetics of breast cancer, which were excluded from his study. “In the opinion of all clinicians, these should undergo a double mastectomy.”
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