In Nonhereditary Breast Cancer, Surgery on the Healthy Other Breast Is Unnecessary, Costly and Reduces Quality of Life

As you all know, surgery is the most important standard treatment for breast cancer. However, when a woman faces breast cancer, fear of its destructive effects and the thought that it will threaten her life in the future lead her to request complete removal of the breast, or even simultaneous removal of the other breast that does not have cancer. Yet only breast cancer types involving genetic carrier status pose a risk to the opposite breast.

Today, both misinformation in the media and Angelina Jolie's decision to have both breasts removed after learning of her genetic breast cancer risk have changed breast cancer patients' perspectives. Removal of both breasts is therefore frequently requested, with pressure placed on physicians to do so. An article published in Surgical Oncology clarified this issue.

The research examined patients who underwent sentinel lymph node biopsy between 2007-2010, involving 4219 breast cancer patients. Of these patients, 3722 had a mastectomy on one breast, while 497 had both breasts removed. The study found that surgery on one breast offered both economic benefits and much more favorable advantages for patients' quality of life than surgery on both breasts.

In conclusion, operating on both breasts is inappropriate in women with breast cancer whose tests have demonstrated that they do not carry a hereditary cancer risk.

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