Contralateral mastectomy did not improve survival in young women

SAN FRANCISCO — Young women with invasive breast cancer who underwent contralateral mastectomy experienced similar survival outcomes as those who did not undergo the procedure, according to study results presented at the Breast Cancer Symposium.

Antoine Bouchard-Fortier, MD, a second-year surgical oncology fellow at the University of Calgary Tom Baker Cancer Center, and colleagues used the Ontario Cancer Registry to identify 628 women aged 35 years or younger who were diagnosed with invasive breast cancer between 1994 and 2003.

All patients underwent mastectomy, and 101 (16.1%) underwent contralateral mastectomy.

Median follow-up was 11 years.

Results of a multivariable analysis indicated the use of contralateral mastectomy was significantly associated with negative lymph node status (HR=1.74; 95% CI, 1.05-2.87) and negative ER status (HR=2.7; 95% CI, 1.31-5.73).

Overall, women who underwent contralateral mastectomy did not experience a survival benefit compared with women who underwent unilateral mastectomy (HR=0.95; 95% CI, 0.61-1.46).

“Performance of contralateral mastectomy in young women with invasive breast cancer did not result in a significant survival benefit compared to those without contralateral mastectomy,” the researchers wrote. “Further studies are needed to determine if a subset of young women might benefit from contralateral mastectomy.”

For more information:

Bouchard-Fortier A. Abstract #82. Presented at: Breast Cancer Symposium; Sept. 4-6, 2014; San Francisco.

Disclosure: The study was funded by the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. One researcher reports research funding from Pfizer.