Tuesday, August 31, 2010 (Last Updated: 09/01/2010)
TUESDAY, Aug. 31 (HealthDay News) -- Among women with BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations, risk-reducing mastectomy is linked to a lower risk of breast cancer, and risk-reducing salpingo-oophorectomy is associated with numerous benefits, including lower risk of ovarian cancer and first breast cancer diagnosis, according to research published in the Sept. 1 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Susan M. Domchek, M.D., of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia, and colleagues analyzed data from 2,482 women with BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations ascertained between 1974 and 2008. They followed the women through 2009.
The researchers found that no breast cancers were diagnosed among the 247 women who chose mastectomy, compared to 98 of 1,372 women diagnosed with breast cancer who didn't have the mastectomy. Those who underwent salpingo-oophorectomy had a lower risk of ovarian cancer (hazard ratios in women with and without previous breast cancer, 0.14 and 0.28, respectively) than those who did not. They also had a reduced risk of first breast cancer diagnosis (hazard ratios in BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers, 0.63 and 0.36, respectively). Salpingo-oophorectomy was also linked with lower all-cause mortality, breast cancer-specific mortality, and ovarian cancer-specific mortality.
"Our results confirm that risk-reducing mastectomy is associated with a significant reduction in breast cancer risk. In addition, risk-reducing salpingo-oophorectomy is associated with a significant decrease in ovarian cancer risk in both BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers, and in those with and without a prior diagnosis of breast cancer," the authors conclude.
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