Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

The impact of contralateral mastectomy on mortality in BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers with breast cancer

  • Brief Report
  • Published:
Breast Cancer Research and Treatment Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Among women with breast cancer and a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation, the lifetime risk of breast cancer may be as high as 40%. Many physicians recommend prophylactic contralateral mastectomy, which is an effective measure of minimising the risk of contralateral cancer. The benefits of preventive contralateral mastectomy are apparent within 10 years, in terms of preventing cancer, but a much longer time period is required in order to demonstrate a reduction in mortality. Under the simple model presented here, among women who retain the contralateral breast, 0.4% of women are expected to die of contralateral breast cancer within 5 years, but 6.8% are expected to die at 20 years from diagnosis. These unnecessary deaths can be prevented by bilateral mastectomy.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

References

  1. Metcalfe K, Lynch HT, Ghadirian P, Tung N, Olivotto I, Warner E, Olopade OI, Eisen A, Weber B, McLennan J, Sun P, Foulkes WD, Narod SA (2004) Contralateral breast cancer in BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers. J Clin Oncol 22:2328–2335

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Dent R, Trudeau M, Pritchard KI, Hanna WM, Kahn HK, Sawka CA, Lickley LA, Rawlinson E, Sun P, Narod SA (2007) Triple-negative breast cancer: clinical features and patterns of recurrence. Clin Cancer Res 13:4429–4434

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Heemskerk-Gerritsen BAM, Hooning MJ, Jager A, Tilanus-Linthorst MMA, Bartels CCM, van den Ouweland A, Collée JM, Menke-Pluimers M, Seynaeve C (2010) Is risk-reducing mastectomy in BRCA1/2 mutation carriers with a history of unilateral breast cancer beneficial with respect to distant disease free survival and overall survival? Eur J Cancer Suppl 8(3):206

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Conflicts of interest

None.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Womens College Research Institute and Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, 790 Bay Street, Room 750, Toronto, ON, M5G 1N8, Canada

    Steven A. Narod

Authors
  1. Steven A. Narod
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Steven A. Narod.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Narod, S.A. The impact of contralateral mastectomy on mortality in BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers with breast cancer. Breast Cancer Res Treat 128, 581–583 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-011-1479-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-011-1479-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation