Question

Is bilateral mastectomy a good preventative choice for women who have all the genetic markers for breast cancer?

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Answer 1

According to a notification issued by the National Cancer Institute, only women with high breast cancer risk should opt for preventive mastectomy. Even though bilateral mastectomy is a good preventative choice for women who have all the genetic markers for breast cancer, it reduces the chance of breast cancer only for 90%. Studies have revealed that 10% of women who had a mastectomy will develop breast cancer. In most studies, patients developing breast cancer after prophylactic mastectomy were less. Many of these patients were not considered as high-risk ones for developing cancer. Experts are also of the opinion that even for high-risk women, preventive mastectomy is not the right choice, because breast tissue cannot be removed completely during a surgical procedure. The women undergoing preventive mastectomy who have survival advantage are pre-menopausal women who had endocrine receptor-negative breast cancers and those with a BRCA genetic mutation. The results of risk reduction vary widely for many reasons. Compared to other preventive measures like chemotherapy, prophylactic mastectomy can be considered as a better preventive option.