Higher percentage of women seeking contralateral prophylactic mastectomy, mostly unnecessary

Moral of the story: Contralateral prophylactic mastectomy is ONLY beneficial in some estrogen-receptor-negative cancers appearing before the age of 50.  This is otherwise NOT necessary.

Source: AMA Morning Rounds 3/9/2010

Higher percentage of women seeking contralateral prophylactic mastectomy.

The New York Times (3/8, Parker-Pope) "Well" blog reported, "The percentage of women asking to remove both breasts after a cancer diagnosis has more than doubled in recent years," according to research presented at the Society of Surgical Oncology annual meeting. Data indicate that contralateral prophylactic mastectomy is "more popular among women with the earliest, most curable forms of cancer." But, the current research showed "a slight survival benefit among a small subset of breast cancer patients -- women under 50 with early stage estrogen-receptor-negative tumors."