A study has found that risk-reducing mastectomy (RRM) in women with a certain genetic type can significantly reduce the risk of being diagnosed with breast cancer and reduce the chance of death. Research published in the British Journal of Cancer examined how RRM – surgery to remove a breast – affects the mortality of women with a pathogenic variant but not diagnosed cancer. (Also read | Breast self-examination: how to check for early signs of breast cancer,
Professor Kelly Metcalfe said: “Making the decision to have a risk-reducing mastectomy is often difficult for a woman, and the more evidence we can provide to them when they are making that decision, the more informed their care plan will be. Will happen.” from the University of Toronto, Canada.
Women who have an inherited BRCA1 or BRCA2 variant have an 80 percent risk of developing breast cancer in their lifetime, the researchers said.
She said, studies have shown that RRM reduces the risk of breast cancer by 90 per cent and in Canada, 30 per cent of women with the pathogenic type opt for this surgery.
It’s one of the most effective ways to prevent breast cancer in at-risk women, Metcalfe said.
Researchers followed more than 1600 participants from a registry of women with pathogenic BRCA1/2 variants from nine different countries over the course of six years, with half of the women undergoing risk-reducing mastectomy.
At the end of the trial, there were 20 breast cancer events and two deaths in the group that opted for RRM, and 100 breast cancer events and seven deaths in the control group, the researchers said.
They said RRM reduced the risk of breast cancer by 80 percent and the chance of dying from breast cancer 15 years after a risk-reducing mastectomy was less than one percent.
“Although there was no significant difference in deaths between the two groups in this study, we know that risk-reducing mastectomy significantly reduces the risk of developing breast cancer,” Metcalfe said.
Metcalf said following these participants longer would generate more evidence to accurately assess mortality risk and highlight the benefits associated with this type of surgery.
“Right now, we have a good screening system for breast cancer, including breast MRI, so surgery is only offered as an option, not a recommendation,” Metcalf said.
“But more studies to assess women’s trajectories and risk factors after RRM will help us know whether these guidelines need to be changed in the future,” she added.
