Almost of 70 percent of Breast Removal Surgeries are Unneeded: Study

About 70 percent of breast cancer patients undergo unnecessary breast removal surgeries, according to a study.

The rising number of breast cancer cases has led to more women seeking mastectomy to avoid disease recurrence. Experts from the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center examined 1,447 women who had breast cancer and did not experience reappearance of the tumor in their breasts to note the trends in cancer treatment procedures due to over diagnosis. They found almost 8 percent of the study subjects had double mastectomy and 18 percent considered the option as a preventive step.

It was observed that about three-fourth of the participants reported getting contralateral prophylactic mastectomy (CPM) or removing the healthy breast along with the cancerous one to avoid cancer invading the remaining breast tissues.

Having cancer in one breast does not necessarily increase the risk of it spreading to the other breast. Past studies have proven the risk of developing new cancer in healthy breasts is high for only those having BRCA1 and BRCA 2 genetic mutations or  women with a family history of breast cancer.

"What we found is that almost 70 percent did not have a clinical indication for it .Women appear to be using worry over cancer recurrence to choose contralateral prophylactic mastectomy. This does not make sense, because having a non-affected breast removed will not reduce the risk of recurrence in the affected breast," said Sarah Hawley, study researcher and associate professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan in a news release.

Double mastectomy is recommended only in critical conditions and advanced stage of breast cancer. The procedure gained much acclaim after the Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie announced that she had undergone surgical removal of breasts.  

The findings also revealed other factors like higher education and getting MRI tests impacted the patients' decision to undergo CPM. Even if  screening tests and scans do not show or detect any possible threat, women tend to constantly worry about cancer recurrence.

"It's a reasonable thing to be fearful of recurrence. What you hope is that fear motivates them to comply with treatment. What you hope the fear doesn't do is cripple them." said Ann Partridge, co-author and oncologist and director of the adult survivorship program at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, reports the HealthDay.

The authors believe fear shouldn't be a driving factor to choose invasive medical treatments and complex procedures. Doctors and health experts must counsel patients and discuss the risk factors, use of preventive drugs and hormone therapy before performing unneeded mastectomy.

More information is available online in JAMA Surgery.