U.S. Rates Of Double-Mastectomies For Breast Cancer Vary By State

(Reuters Health) - The likelihood that U.S. women with early-stage cancer in one breast will have both breasts removed varies depending on where they live, a new study shows. For example, between 2010 and 2012, among women ages 20 to 44 with cancer in one breast, about 15 percent had both breasts removed in the District of Columbia, compared to about 49 percent in South Dakota. “The variation is very striking,” said senior author Ahmedin Jemal, of the American Cancer Society in Atlanta. When women have breast cancer in one breast, having both breasts removed usually isn’t helpful, experts say. Last year the American Society of Breast Surgeons issued a statement to discourage women with one-sided, or unilateral, breast cancer who don’t have a genetic or family risk for the disease from undergoing a double, or contralateral, mastectomy. Still, Jemal and his colleagues point out in JAMA Surgery, past research has found an increase in contralateral mastectomies among women with early stage cancer in one breast. For women at average risk and cancer in one breast, “taking off the other breast doesn’t significantly reduce the risk of a cancer on the other side, because their risk wasn’t that high to begin with,” said Dr. Laurie Kirstein, a breast surgical oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City who wasn’t involved in the new study. To examine trends across states, the researchers analyzed data collec...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news