(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Will removing a noncancerous breast in breast
cancer patients reduce the risk of the disease? Little is known about the
connection, however a growing number of women choose to have the procedure in
hopes of lowering their risk.
A study of New York State data finds that the number of women who are removing a
healthy breast after being diagnosed with breast cancer is rising.
Stephen B. Edge, M.D., FACS, of the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo,
NY, led researchers to examine patients who underwent prophylactic mastectomies
between the years of 1995 and 2005. The researchers identified 6,275 patients in
New York that underwent the procedure and found 81 percent of those women were
diagnosed with cancer in one breast prior to the removal of a healthy breast.
Researchers found that the number of procedures more than doubled during the
time period. "These data from New York are only data on a large population of
women that examine the use of bilateral prophylactic mastectomy," Dr. Edge was
quoted as saying. These data demonstrate that prophylactic mastectomy is an
uncommon procedure that is performed most commonly on women with personal
history of breast cancer. Although the total number of prophylactic mastectomies
performed per year was small, it appears that the use of the surgery is
increasing."
SOURCE: Cancer, 2009
