Breast Cancer Survivors May Opt for Unnecessary Surgery

More and more women who have been diagnosed with cancer in one breast are choosing to have a double mastectomy, even though statistically the risk of cancer developing in the second breast is less than 1 percent.

This trend was found by a University of Minnesota team in the first study of double-mastectomy use at a national level. The researchers found that from 1998 to 2003 double mastectomies increased from 4.2 percent to 11 percent. Women younger than 40 were much more likely to choose the more aggressive approach.

Advances in cancer prevention through drug treatment and imaging technology means surgeons are trying to do less surgery, not more.

"Some would argue that the need for aggressive surgery should going down, not up," says SPH associate professor Beth Virnig, one of the study authors.

Experts say that for women with cancer in one breast, the risk of cancer spreading to other parts of the body is greater than the risk of it spreading to the other breast. The annual risk of cancer developing in the other breast is about 0.5 percent to 0.75 percent. The researchers believe that fear coupled with an increased public awareness about the genetics of breast cancer have led to increased double mastectomies.

But the aggressive approach does nothing to improve outcomes in terms of cancer.

"Double mastectomies may not always be necessary," says Virnig. "We need to understand why more women are choosing this treatment so that we can better counsel them about their risks for cancer in the other breast and the other treatment options available to them."