Warning on cancer treatment

Women undergoing treatment for breast cancer should be warned that 20 per cent of patients who chose to only have part of the breast removed are likely to need a second operation, scientist said.

Researchers made the suggestion after they found that one in five English women who underwent breast conserving surgery needed further treatment.

There are 45,000 women diagnosed with breast cancer each year in England. Of these, 58 per cent chose to have part of the breast removed – breast conserving surgery – rather than a mastectomy, in which the whole breast is removed.

When combined with radiotherapy, breast-conserving surgery produces similar survival rates to those achieved with mastectomy alone. But because some tumours are difficult to detect, breast conserving may result in their inadequate removal and lead to another operation.

The study, published in the British Medical Journal, examined the re-operation rates of 55,297 patients in in England between 2005 and 2008.