Double mastectomies significantly lower risk of breast cancer in women who are genetical...( (Philadelphia PA) An international st...)

(Philadelphia, PA) An international study led by researchers from the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania has found that a prophylactic double mastectomy surgical removal of both breasts to prevent a cancer before it occurs can lower the risk of developing breast cancer by 90 percent in women genetically pre-disposed to the disease. This is the first study to quantify the risk reduction for this procedure and its impact on hundreds of thousands of women in the United States who carry mutations in one or both of the two genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 strongly linked to breast and ovarian cancer. Their findings appear in the March 15th edition of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

"Women are still at risk for breast cancer after any kind of mastectomy as some breast tissue remains in the body after surgery," said lead author Timothy R. Rebbeck, PhD, Co-Program Leader of the Center's Cancer Epidemiology and Risk Reduction Program and an Associate Professor of Epidemiology at Penn's School of Medicine. "Now that we have quantified the benefit of a double mastectomy for reducing the chances of breast cancer, women in this high-risk group can make a better-informed decision about having breast surgery in addition to other forms of prevention, such as regular screening and/or other preventive surgeries, including ovary removal."

The study, called PROSE (Prevention and Observation of Surgical Endpoints), followed 483 at-risk women from 11 sites in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and the Netherlands for over six years. Most of the North American women chose not to have preventive, or prophylactic, double mastectomies. Multiple study controls were used to guard against research bias. Women who chose to have prophylactic mastectomies were paired with women in a control group based on type of mutation, treatment center and year of birth within five years. In addition, none of the participants had any previous or current diagnosis o
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Contact: David March
david.march@uphs.upenn.edu
215-615-3353
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
23-Feb-2004

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