Too Many Mastectomies?
Reported October 15, 2009
(Ivanhoe Newswire) — Surgeons are concerned about the rise in use of mastectomies in the United States. Researchers say surgeon recommendations, patients’ own decisions and past failures of breast-conserving surgery all influence the high mastectomy rate.
A new study conducted at the University of Michigan’s Comprehensive Cancer Center found patient preferences play an important role in shaping the pattern of the surgical treatment. In the study, a third of all the patients chose mastectomy as their initial treatment. The researchers believe that the patients prefer this type of surgery for “peace of mind,” and possibly to avoid radiation.
“Women need to understand that although it intuitively seems obvious that a bigger surgery is a better surgery, it may not be the case here,” Monica Murrow, M.D., Chief of the Breast Service in the Department of Surgery at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, was quoted as saying. “There are some patients for whom mastectomy is the best medical treatment, but when it is not indicated, women need to make sure that if they are choosing mastectomy as a matter of preference that they understand that it is not going to improve the likelihood of breast cancer survival.”
Dr. Murrow goes on to explain that the risk of cancer recurring in the breast after having a lumpectomy is basically the same as having the cancer come back in the scar tissue of a mastectomy.
SOURCE: Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) October 14, 2009