The number of men with breast cancer who have surgery to remove the unaffected breast has risen dramatically, despite a lack of evidence that the procedure can increase their chance of survival.
Breast cancer in men accounts for only about 1 percent of the cases seen in the United States, but the trend mirrors rises in contralateral prophylactic mastectomy (CPM) surgery to remove both breasts seen in women, the American Cancer Society reported.
The rate of double mastectomies in women in cases where one breast is unaffected has risen from 2.2 percent in 1998 to 11 percent in 2011, and researchers were curious if the same was true for male breast cancer patients. To make their findings, the researchers looked at treatment among 6,332 men who underwent surgery for breast cancer limited to one breast between 2004 and 2011 using data from the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries (NAACCR).
The researchers found rates of CPM among men nearly doubled from 3 percent to 5.6 percent (a relative increase of 86.7 percent) between 2004 and 2011.
"The increase in the rate of this costly, serious procedure with no evidence of survival benefit comes, paradoxically, at a time of greater emphasis on quality and value in cancer care," said study leader Ahmedin Jemal, vice president of surveillance and health services research at the American Cancer Society. "Health care providers should be aware that the increase we've seen in removal of the unaffected breast is not limited to women, and doctors should carefully discuss with their male patients the benefits, harms, and costs of this surgery to help patients make informed decisions about their treatments."
The findings were published in a recent edition of the journal JAMA Surgery.
