Extra mastectomy may not extend life for some breast cancer patients

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Extra mastectomy may not extend life for some breast cancer patients

By Kathryn Doyle NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - - For some women with early stage breast cancer, removing the healthy breast likely doesn’t afford much of a survival benefit, according to a new study. “A lot of women with cancer in one breast decide to have both breasts removed to try to improve their survival or life expectancy,” said senior author Dr. Todd M. Tuttle, a surgeon at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. For some women â€" such as those at high genetic risk for breast cancer - removing a still-healthy breast may very well help in the long run, Tuttle said. Tuttle and his coauthors used published data to develop a model for predicting survival rates over 20 years for women diagnosed with stage I or II cancer at age 40, 50 or 60.

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