Breast Cancer’s Tough Choice: To Remove, or Not to Remove, Both Breasts

Women with breast cancer in one breast often choose to have both breasts removed – in a procedure known as a bilateral mastectomy – just to be on the safe side. [...] But for most patients, the decision to remove both breasts is based on the fear of the cancer coming back. [...] Many patients value the relief provided by reducing the risk of getting a second cancer and are glad to hear that they no longer need to undergo annual mammograms. Foremost is the belief that preventing a second breast cancer in the opposite breast, also known as contralateral breast cancer, will lower the risk of dying from breast cancer. [...] Using a 8/13/24, 10:06 AM Opinion: Breast cancer’s tough choice: To remove, or not to remove, both breasts - The Globe and Mail 1/4large database of breast cancer patients, we sought to test this theory in order to offer patients the best information possible, and help them in share [...] To start we must ask: what is the risk of getting a contralateral breast cancer (a cancer in the second breast)? [...] Over a 20-year span after the diagnosis of the first cancer, the risk of getting cancer in the opposite breast is about 7 per cent. [...] This number does not vary much according to the patient’s age at initial diagnosis and is surprisingly similar for women with very early-stage breast cancer and those with more advanced breast cancer. [...] Unfortunately, developing a contralateral breast cancer does raise the patient’s chance of dying from breast cancer. [...] We found that for those who underwent this procedure, the risk of contralateral breast cancer fell from 7 per cent to less than 1 per cent. [...] We took a look at another group of 36,028 closely matched women who chose to have both breasts removed, and found there were 3,062 deaths from breast cancer among them.