Cancer patients who undergo mastectomies 'don't live longer'

Researchers said some patients with breast cancer appear to live just as long whether they choose treatment preserving their breast or have a mastectomy.

Last night, cancer experts said the findings could help women making "tough" decisions and that there was "convincing data" showing women can keep their breast and not be worse off.

The study results were presented yesterday by Dr Lori Pierce, a professor of radiation oncology at the University of Michigan, at a European breast cancer conference in Barcelona.

Dr Pierce's team observed 655 breast cancer patients in Australia, Israel, Spain and the United States, all with genetic mutations giving them a much higher chance of getting the disease.

After 15 years, women who had a breast removed had about a 6 per cent chance of a cancer relapse, compared with 24 per cent of women who kept their breasts.

If the latter group added chemotherapy, their risk dropped to about 12 per cent.

But when it came to survival, there was almost no difference whether the cancer patients had decided to keep their breast or have it removed.

Women who kept their breasts had a survival rate of 87 per cent after 15 years, and women who had mastectomies had a survival rate of 89 per cent.

Dr Pierce said: "This will be useful for patients who are bombarded with a lot of information at once. Being diagnosed with breast cancer and finding out they have a genetic susceptibility is a lot to process, and women may not want to think about a mastectomy right then.

"Breast conservation therapy … with chemotherapy and hormonal therapy is a very reasonable alternative," she added.

Doctors said her findings should buy some recently diagnosed breast cancer patients breathing room.

Dr Alain Fourquet, head of radiation and oncology at the Institut Curie in Paris, said: "This is convincing data that shows women can keep their breast and not be worse off."

Dr Fourquet said being genetically predisposed to breast cancer may be less important in determining a course of action once women actually get the disease, and that decisions to remove a breast should not be based on genes.

Maria Leadbeater, a clinical nurse specialist at British charity Breast Cancer Care, said the findings should change the discussions doctors have with breast cancer patients.

"Surgeons may be able to give more weight to patients' thoughts and wishes," she said.

"If both options are equally effective, then what the patient wants may become more important."

Julia Frater, senior information nurse at Cancer Research UK, said: "This information could be helpful for women with this type of inherited breast cancer who are making tough decisions about their treatment."