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Breast Cancer surgery repeat

Breast cancer surgery women 'risk more operations'

If you face the big C, consider that breast conserving surgery greatly increases your risk of a second operation.

One in five women with breast cancer who has part of the breast removed, rather than the whole breast, ends up having another operation, a BMJ study suggests.

The reoperation rate increases to one in three for women whose early-stage cancer is difficult to detect.

Surgery to conserve the breast can cause scarring

The ... aim of these repeat operations after breast-conserving surgery is to reduce the chance that breast cancer will return in the breast, and increase survival from the disease.

That's a pussyfoot way to say you're gonna die if you don't get that second operation.

Tags: breast cancer

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Permalink Reply by Ruth Anthony-Gardner on August 13, 2012 at 9:59am

For Most Older Women With Early Stage Breast Cancer, Radiation Afte...

Contrary to clinical recommendations, older women with early stage breast cancer may want to undergo radiation after lumpectomy to help ensure that they will not need a mastectomy in the future. That is the conclusion of a new study published early online in Cancer, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society. The findings indicate that current thinking on the risks and benefits of radiation for early stage breast cancer in older women may be inaccurate.

Specifically, radiation did not seem to benefit women ages 75 to 79 years with non-high grade tumors (which contain cells that look only moderately abnormal under a microscope), suggesting that this group can probably skip radiation. Patients with high grade tumors (which contain very abnormal-looking cells), regardless of age, seemed to derive the most benefit from radiation. "These data are important because they suggest that radiation is likely of some benefit to certain women where national guidelines say that radiation is not needed," said Dr. Smith. [emphasis mine]

Permalink Reply by Steph S. on September 22, 2012 at 7:52pm