IS PREVENTIVE MASTECTOMY IN CASE OF HEREDITARY BREAST CANCER NEEDED OR NOT?

Friday 2 August 2019

There has been some controversy recently related to a clinical study in The Netherlands comparing overall survival rates between women with BrCa1 and BrCa2 mutations who underwent preventive mastectomy and those who opted for regular screening. The results seem to suggest that for BrCa2 mutations, no clinically relevant differences exist. However, as with all clinical studies, the conclusions need to be put in context.

Although we can only be happy for the conclusion that regular screening and new innovative therapies these days lead to very succesful treatments and great survival rates, there will always be the difficult choice and decision between preventive surgery or - if breast cancer is detected even at an early stage - the sometimes difficult treatments and worries and costs that it brings for both patients and healthcare systems. The choice between prevention or a significant risk to breast cancer remains. In addition, this study only compares results over a 10year period.