Word: benefit
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...Bedrosian's study, however, which involved 107,000 women undergoing mastectomy for breast cancer, most women did not obtain a survival benefit from preventive surgery in the unaffected breast. Only a specific group of patients - women under age 50 who had early-stage cancer (I or II) and tumors that were negative for the estrogen receptor - saw an increase in their chances of surviving to five years. That increase was small, just 4.8%, compared with women who did not have preventive mastectomy. Further, less than 10% of the breast-cancer population fits these criteria...
...hope this study helps women make a better decision," says Bedrosian. "For the majority of women in the study, we can't document a survival benefit for you. So our results provide some reassurance that perhaps a [preventive] mastectomy is not necessary, perhaps overly aggressive and perhaps a bit too much...
...while the benefit may seem slight, Bedrosian notes that in cancer terms, any percentage boost in survival is meaningful, particularly to patients. And when women are facing the decision to lose a healthy breast, every piece of information counts. (See more about health care...
...body. Women whose tumors lack the estrogen receptor, however, cannot take advantage of these drugs, since their cancers are not as dependent on estrogen for fuel. As a result, they have a lower survival rate to begin with. That's why women with these cancers showed a survival benefit from removing both breasts, says Bedrosian...
...professor of medicine at Indiana University. "They may be overall healthier in that they see their physician more frequently, and their physicians may be more aggressive in treating their cancer in terms of what chemotherapy they use, and therefore these women may happen to have a greater benefit from having received more generally aggressive treatment...