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Review
. 2016 Oct;68(5):544-7.
Epub 2016 Jan 19.

Risk-reducing mastectomy

Federica Chiesa  1 , Virgilio S Sacchini
Affiliations
Review

Risk-reducing mastectomy

Federica Chiesa et al. Minerva Ginecol. 2016 Oct.

Abstract

Mastectomy rates have significantly increased over the last decades, likely due to the rising trend of risk-reducing mastectomies (RRM) in the treatment and prevention of breast cancer. Growing evidence suggests that aggressive risk-reducing surgical strategies are only justified in high-risk breast cancer situations. Notably, in this selected cohort of women, prophylactic mastectomies offer evident benefit for local and contralateral disease control, and may also provide a survival benefit. Nevertheless, the extent of the increasing frequency of this operation is not explained by the broadening of the medical indications alone. Here we analyze the current evidence regarding RRM, its clinical practice, and possible explanations for the rising phenomenon of aggressive surgical locoregional control strategies.

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Conflict of interest statement

Disclosures: The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose. This article was funded in part by NIH/NCI Cancer Center Support Grant No. P30 CA008747.

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