A study which will appear in the Cancer journal, found the number of women opting to remove a healthy breast is rising, but the rate of women removing both breasts because of a strong link to breast cancer is still relatively low.
The study from the New York state data said prophylactic mastectomy, the removal of a noncancerous breast, is one method for reducing a woman's risk of developing breast cancer; however, there is little information available on the prevalence of prophylactic mastectomies for preventing breast cancer among high-risk women or on the prevalence of the surgery to prevent tumours in the healthy breast among women whose cancer is limited to one breast.
Researchers led by Stephen Edge of the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, looked at the frequency of the removal of noncancerous breast in New York state from 1995 to 2005. They found 6,275 female New York residents who underwent prophylactic mastectomies, 81 per cent of whom had been diagnosed with cancer in one breast, while 19 per cent had no personal history of breast cancer.
'These data from New York are the only data on a large population of women that examine the use of bilateral prophylactic mastectomy,' said Dr Edge.
'These data demonstrate that prophylactic mastectomy is an uncommon procedure that is performed most commonly on women with a 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.'
Over the period the prevalence of contralateral mastectomies more than doubled. The prevalence of bilateral prophylactic mastectomies among women with no personal history of breast cancer increased only slightly.
Dr Edge added: 'Women with breast cancer should have careful counselling regarding benefits and risks before proceeding with prophylactic mastectomy of the other breast.'
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