New Research Finds That Routine Breast Cancer Tests Lead to Unnecessary Mastectomies and Chemotherapy – an article from Cancer News.
This article may temper the celebrity-endorsed enthusiasm for prophylactic mastectomies for those with BRCA mutations. In addition, another study out of Duke Cancer Institute followed women with a BRCA mutation who had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer, with one group having prophylactic mastectomies, and the other group receiving routine screening (mammograms/MRIs); you can read the article here.
Results: For women diagnosed at any age with BRCA 1 and 2 gene mutations and within the first four years after ovarian cancer diagnosis, prophylactic mastectomy was associated with a negligible gain in survival. For women diagnosed at age 60 or older, regardless of time since ovarian cancer diagnosis, the gain in survival months was also negligible. For women diagnosed at age 40 to 50 with BRCA 1 and 2 mutations and at least five years after an ovarian cancer diagnosis, the procedure was associated with a survival benefit of two to five months.
Bottom line: Although prophylactic mastectomy in BRCA gene mutation carriers has shown to decrease breast cancer incidence, the data does not confirm an increase in survival.
healthyliving June 11th, 2019
Posted In: cancer care, Cancer Prevention
Tags: breast cancer, cancer, chemotherapy, mastectomy, new research, research, study
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Dr. Mark Rosenberg received his doctorate from Georgetown University School of Medicine in 1988 and has been involved with drug research since 1991.