When Angelina Jolie publicly announced her double mastectomy in 2013, she was praised for possibly saving many women’s lives. But we know more today than we did then and experts now agree that too many women are undergoing unnecessary mastectomies. Here are the facts.
A review of 10 studies found that the risk of getting breast cancer for an average woman with BRCA1 is 57%. The risk is 49% for a woman with BRCA2.[1] Keep in mind that for younger women, the lifetime risk of breast cancer is very different from the risk of getting breast cancer in the next 10 years or even 20 years. For example, the risk of breast cancer in her 20’s is very low, even with BRCA1 (less than 3%) or BRCA2 (approximately 1%). For a 30-year old woman, the risk by age 39 is higher (10% for women with BRCA1 and 8% for BRCA2). For a 40-year-old woman, the risk by age 49 is 16% for women with BRCA1 and 13% for women with BRCA2. [2] Although these 10-year risk levels are much higher than for most women, they are much lower than the life-time risk that is so frightening. It is also important to remember that cancer treatments and prevention strategies are improving, so the survival rate from breast cancer is higher than ever. Many breast cancer patients live long and healthy lives.
It is important for women with a BRCA gene who are considering a prophylactic mastectomy to know that lumpectomy with radiation therapy is just as effective for preventing in-breast tumor recurrence in patients with BRCA mutations as it is for other women. In fact, the most recent research shows that women with BRCA mutations are effectively treated with the same types of treatments as other breast cancer patients. More aggressive treatment is not necessary. [7]
Most women are diagnosed with breast cancer at early stages, making it safe to undergo a lumpectomy (which removes just the cancer) rather than a mastectomy (which removes the entire breast). Yet American women are undergoing prophylactic mastectomies at a higher rate than women in other countries — many of them medically unnecessary.[3] Breast cancer experts believe that many women undergoing mastectomies do not need them and are getting them out of fear, not because of the actual risks.
In recent years, we have seen an increase in women with early-stage breast cancer choosing to get a double mastectomy. For example, a 2015 study conducted by researchers at Vanderbilt University reported that, for women diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer in one breast, the rates of double mastectomy increased from 2% to 11% from 1998 to 2011.[4] Researchers found that decisions to have a double mastectomy increased more for two groups of women: 1) Women with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) where there are abnormal cells inside a milk duct in the breast that won’t spread and aren’t dangerous and 2) Women with cancer only in the breast that has not spread to the lymph nodes.
In 2017, researchers from Emory University and colleagues published a study focused on women diagnosed with early-state breast cancer in one breast.[5] They found that, from 2004 to 2012, the percentage of these women 45 years or older who got double mastectomies more than doubled from 4% to 10%. For women ages 20-44, the percentage tripled from 11% to 33%. Researchers found that it mattered where women lived in the United States. For example, in five Midwestern states (Nebraska, Missouri, Colorado, Iowa, and South Dakota), 42% of the women who got surgery decided to get a double mastectomy.
For many years, experts have known that women who undergo lumpectomies for a non-invasive condition called ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) or for early-stage breast cancer live just as long as women undergoing mastectomies. However, the latest research goes a step further: a study conducted in the Netherlands of more than 37,000 women with early-stage breast cancer found that the women undergoing lumpectomies were more likely to be alive 10 years later than women with the same diagnosis who underwent a single or double mastectomy.[7] They were also less likely to have died of breast cancer.
In 2016, Harvard cancer surgeon Dr. Mehra Golshan published a study of almost half a million women with breast cancer in one breast. She reported that those undergoing double mastectomies did not live longer than women undergoing a mastectomy in only one breast.[6]
For more information about the many studies that show the benefits of less radical surgery, see this article.
For women at high risk of breast cancer for any reason, mammography screening at a young age and annual breast MRIs are alternatives to prophylactic mastectomy. MRIs are more accurate than mammograms for young women and women with dense breast tissue.
Research indicates that a low-fat diet, weight control, and exercise may reduce the risk of breast cancer for all women, including women at high risk and women who previously were treated for breast cancer. [8,9] In addition, research on hundreds of thousands of breast cancer patients who completed their treatment show that being physically active, eating healthy foods, and maintaining a healthy weight all are effective ways to help breast cancer patients live longer.[10]
The bottom line is that women with DCIS or early-stage breast cancer have more effective and less radical treatment options than mastectomy. We need to stop thinking of mastectomy as the “brave” choice and understand that the risks and benefits of mastectomy are different for every woman with cancer or the risk of cancer. In breast cancer, any reasonable treatment choice is the brave choice.
The research clearly shows that mastectomies are not the best choice for most women if they want to live longer. Women should be aware of treatment choices for breast cancer and encouraged to make decisions based on their own unique situations. For each woman, it is important to weigh her own risk of cancer — in the next few years, and not just over her lifetime – and the risks of various treatments. Each woman should make the decision that is best for her, based on the facts, not on fear.
References:
- Chen, S., & Parmigiani, G. (2007). Meta-analysis of BRCA1 and BRCA2 penetrance. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 25(11), 1329-1333.
- Chen, S., Iversen, E. S., Friebel, T., Finkelstein, D., Weber, B. L., Eisen, A., … & Corio, C. (2006). Characterization of BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations in a large United States sample. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 24(6), 863-871.
- Metcalfe, K. A., Birenbaum‐Carmeli, D., Lubinski, J., Gronwald, J., Lynch, H., Moller, P., … & Kim‐Sing, C. (2008). International variation in rates of uptake of preventive options in BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers. International journal of cancer, 122(9), 2017-2022.
Kummerow, K. L., Du, L., Penson, D. F., Shyr, Y., & Hooks, M. A. (2015). Nationwide trends in mastectomy for early-stage breast cancer. JAMA surgery, 150(1), 9-16. - Nash, R., Goodman, M., Lin, C. C., Freedman, R. A., Dominici, L. S., Ward, K., & Jemal, A. (2017). State variation in the receipt of a contralateral prophylactic mastectomy among women who received a diagnosis of invasive unilateral early-stage breast cancer in the United States, 2004-2012. JAMA surgery.
- Wong, S. M., Freedman, R. A., Sagara, Y., Aydogan, F., Barry, W. T., & Golshan, M. (2017). Growing use of contralateral prophylactic mastectomy despite no improvement in long-term survival for invasive breast cancer. Annals of surgery, 265(3), 581-589.
van Maaren, M. C., de Munck, L., de Bock, G. H., Jobsen, J. J., van Dalen, T., Linn, S. C., … & Siesling, S. (2016). 10 year survival after breast-conserving surgery plus radiotherapy compared with mastectomy in early breast cancer in the Netherlands: a population-based study. The Lancet Oncology, 17(8), 1158-1170. - Hwang, E. S., Lichtensztajn, D. Y., Gomez, S. L., Fowble, B., & Clarke, C. A. (2013). Survival after lumpectomy and mastectomy for early stage invasive breast cancer. Cancer, 119(7), 1402-1411.
Kurian, A. W., Lichtensztajn, D. Y., Keegan, T. H., Nelson, D. O., Clarke, C. A., & Gomez, S. L. (2014). Use of and mortality after bilateral mastectomy compared with other surgical treatments for breast cancer in California, 1998-2011. JAMA, 312(9), 902-914. - Ballinger, T (2022). “Implications of BRCA status on response to therapy and long-term outcome” Medscape. https://decisionpoint.medscape.com/oncology/viewarticle/981345?src=mkm_ret_221113_mscpmrk_BC_monthly&uac=140425SY&impID=4853207
- Breast Cancer (PDQ®): Treatment. National Cancer Institute. http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/treatment/breast/HealthProfessional/
- Prentice RL, Caan B, Chlebowski RT, Patterson R, Kuller LH, Ockene JK, et al., The women’s health initiative randomized controlled dietary modification trial. JAMA. 2006;295(6):629-642
- Brooks, M (2022) “Lifestyle changes can reduce risk of death after breast cancer.” Medscape. https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/983131?src=mkm_ret_221113_mscpmrk_BC_monthly&uac=140425SY&impID=4853207