Is bilateral mastectomies done for cancer prevention?
Bilateral mastectomies (surgical removal of both breasts) to prevent breast cancer have been advocated for those women who have very strong family (generation) history of breasts cancer, involving great grandmothers, grandmothers, aunts, mothers, and sisters. The cumulative risk of women in the general population to developing breast cancer is 10.2% (a little more than one in every ten women). With a strong family history, however, this increases the risk to threefold (about 30.6%). The best guide is the expert recommendation of the physician. What causes breast cancer? No one single cause or factor has been decisively implicated as the etiology of breast cancer. However, the following are some factors or conditions that have been associated with increased risk of developing cancer of the breast: smoking, radiation exposure before the age of 30, early menarche (first menstrual period), late first pregnancy, late menopause, obesity in menopausal women, high fat diet. Prolonged (more tha
