Miguel Bronchud: Interesting apparent paradox pointed out on bilateral mastectomies

Miguel Bronchud, Co-Founder and Advisory Board at Regenerative Medicine Solutions, shared a post on LinkedIn:

“Interesting apparent ‘paradox’ pointed out on bilateral mastectomies?

Bilateral Mastectomy and Breast Cancer Mortality
Vasily Giannakeas, David W. Lim, Steven A. Narod.

JAMA Oncology Published online July 25, 2024.

Breast cancer surgeons have tended not to push patients towards bilateral mastectomy, since data have long shown that the complete removal of both breasts doesn’t improve survival. New data from a large epidemiological study affirmed that, but an accompanying finding is puzzling.

Breast cancer survivors who ended up developing a second breast cancer in the opposite or contralateral breast had a higher risk of death, even though preventing that cancer with surgery didn’t change outcomes?

Cancer patients getting a single mastectomy, or a double mastectomy all return about the same rate of survival, over 80% over 20 years of followup.

However, STAT’s cancer reporter Angus Chen writes, the new study turns up a puzzling finding. Survivors who ended up developing a second breast cancer in their opposite, or contralateral, breast had a higher risk of death from breast cancer, even though people who got a double mastectomy died at the same overall rates.

‘That seems like a paradox, said Steven Narod, a breast cancer researcher and physician at Women’s College Hospital in Toronto and the lead author on the study. ‘If you get a contralateral breast cancer, your risk of dying goes up. But preventing it doesn’t improve your survival’?”

Source: Miguel Bronchud/LinkedIn