Breast cancer study reveals a paradox of mastectomy Angus Chen By Angus Chen July 25, 2024

https://www.statnews.com/2024/07/25/breast-cancer-study-reveals-double-mastectomy-paradox/?utm_campaign=morning_rounds&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--vqGS4CUnlub-aGB7hFmz27IAd7UJF8E3hXthNEOm_PP41di-bu5TeWnwC-751md_pjPpGu9qZADdkplbqu81vAiPX_w&_hsmi=317386118&utm_content=317386118&utm_source=hs_email A paradox of mastectomy for breast cancer patients Weighing treatment options for breast cancer is an agonizing choice. New research published in JAMA Oncology affirms the prevailing knowledge that excising the cancerous lump, getting a single mastectomy, or a double mastectomy all return about the same rate of survival: over 80% over 20 years of followup. However, STAT’s cancer reporter Angus Chen writes, the new study turns up a puzzling finding: Survivors who ended up developing a second breast cancer in their opposite, or contralateral, breast had a higher risk of death from breast cancer, even though people who got a double mastectomy died at the same overall rates. “That seems like a paradox,” said Steven Narod, a breast cancer researcher and physician at Women’s College Hospital in Toronto and the lead author on the study. “If you get a contralateral breast cancer, your risk of dying goes up. But preventing it doesn’t improve your survival.” Read more from Angus, including possible explanations for the conundrum.