Why Are More Breast Cancer Patients Having Mastectomies?
The percentage of breast-cancer patients choosing to have an entire breast removed is increasing, and it’s not entirely clear why, Mayo Clinic doctors say.
In 1990, the NIH said that for women with early-stage disease, a mastectomy (removing the entire breast) was basically equivalent to removing a lump from the breast combined with radiation therapy. That prompted mastectomy rates to fall for several years.
A study released yesterday found that the rate has started rising again, at least at the Mayo Clinic. Between 2003 and 2006, the percentage of women choosing mastectomy rose to 43% from 30%.
Rates were higher among women who had an MRI before surgery, perhaps because MRIs tend to detect possible lesions that might persuade women to remove the entire breast. Because the percentage of women who had MRIs doubled during this period (from 11% to 22%), MRI use probably drove up the overall mastectomy rate.
But, in a puzzling finding, the mastectomy rate also increased during the period among women who didn’t have an MRI before surgery, to 41% in 2006 from 28% in 2003. Matthew Goetz, the author of the study, said on a conference call yesterday that this rise is something of a mystery.
But he suggested a few possible reasons for the increase. New options for reconstructive surgery may be one factor; increased use of genetic tests for breast-cancer risk may be another.
Source : blogs.wsj.com
