Study found procedure might cut risk of death in half for those with certain genetic mutations
WebMD News from HealthDay
By Brenda Goodman
HealthDay Reporter
TUESDAY, Feb. 11, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- Women diagnosed with an inherited form of breast cancer might halve their risk of dying of the disease if they remove both breasts, a new study suggests.
"I think we've shown pretty clearly that if you have breast cancer and the BRCA mutation, your best option is to get both breasts removed at the outset," said study author Dr. Steven Narod, a senior scientist with the University of Toronto's Women's College Research Institute, in Canada.
The research, published in the Feb. 11 issue of the journal BMJ, is the first evidence that shows having a so-called bilateral mastectomy actually saves the lives of women with early stage breast cancer and mutations in their BRCA genes, the study authors said.
But some doctors not involved with the study said the conclusions may be a bit premature.
Angelina Jolie brought new attention to gene testing for breast cancer last May when she announced she carried a mutation in her BRCA1 gene and was removing both breasts with the hope of avoiding her mother's fate. Her mother, Marcheline Bertrand, died of cancer at the age of 56. She had been battling breast and ovarian cancer for 10 years.
The genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 produce a protein that thwarts tumors. Certain inherited changes to those genes turn off the protein, dramatically increasing cancer risk.
On average, about 12 percent of women will get breast cancer over the course of their lives. But for women who carry BRCA mutations, the lifetime risk jumps to 60 percent to 70 percent, according to background information included in the study. They're also more likely to get cancer at younger ages and to be diagnosed with more aggressive forms of the disease.
Such mutations are rare, however. They're estimated to account for about 5 percent to 10 percent of all breast cancers, according to the study.
For women who only discover that they carry the defective genes after they've been diagnosed with cancer, it's been unclear whether removal of the opposite breast actually improves their chances of survival.
The new study traced the cancer histories of nearly 400 women with stage 1 and stage 2 breast cancer who were diagnosed between 1977 and 2009. All the women came from families known to have mutations in their BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes. Most of the women had tested positive for a mutation themselves, and were diagnosed with cancer in their early 40s. They were followed for an average of 13 years.
When it came time for surgery, 209 women opted to remove only the breast affected by the cancer, while 181 had both breasts removed.
Over the course of the study, 79 women died of breast cancer -- 61 in the group that had only one breast removed and 18 in the group that had both breasts removed.
source : Double Mastectomy May Benefit Some Women With Inherited Breast Cancer
