Contralateral risk-reducing mastectomy in young women

Abstract

Contralateral risk-reducing mastectomy consists in the surgical removal of the contralateral breast to reduce the risk of breast cancer there [1]. Patients with unilateral primary breast cancer have an increased risk of developing a contralateral breast cancer [2]. In a large-scale study, Quan et al. [3] evaluated the incidence, stage and outcomes of women with contralateral synchronous (defined as tumors diagnosed within 12 months of the initial diagnosis) and metachronous (tumors diagnosed beyond 12 months after the initial diagnosis) breast cancer over a 9-year study period. In the 28,787 cases of breast cancer identified, the mean annual incidence of contralateral breast cancer was 0.1%, while the cumulative incidence of contralateral synchronous cancer was 2.1%, and the cumulative incidence of metachronous cancer was 1.2%. Using the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results database (SEER), Gao et al. [4] found that the 5-, 10-, 15-, and 20-year actuarial incidence of developing contralateral breast cancer was 3, 6, 9 and 12%, respectively. The average incidence of contralateral breast cancer per year of follow-up per patient was estimated at 0.6%. Based on these, and other retrospective studies, the incidence rate of contralateral breast cancer in breast cancer patients has been estimated to range from approximately 0.5 to 1.8% per year. Benefits of contralateral risk-reducing mastectomy