Breast cancer affects about 48,000 women in the UK per year but while breast cancer surgeries can be necessary and helpful in some cases, it appears that many of the patients undergo needless surgical procedure.
Findings of a new study presented at the European Breast Cancer Conference in Glasgow suggest that hundreds of British women with Ductal Carcinoma In Situ (DCIS), an early form of breast cancer, may be undergoing unnecessary mastectomies.
The researchers pointed out that in some cases, patients who had their breast removed would have been better off having lumpectomy, also known as breast conservation surgery which only removes the cancer or the abnormal tissue in the breast, because the abnormal cells in the milk ducts have just started to turn cancerous and haven't yet spread out to other parts of the breast.
In the study, which involved more than 8,000 women with DCIS, 2,479 had mastectomies and of these, 510 had operation for tumors that measured smaller than 20mm diameter, for which a lumpectomy would have been the best procedure.
Study researcher Jeremy Thomas, a consultant pathologist at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh said the unnecessary breast cancer surgeries happen because of communication issues among specialist teams in some hospitals.
"It would appear from our data that, in some hospitals, the discussions in the multidisciplinary teams are not looking in enough detail at the results from the mammograms and pathology in order to make the right decision about the best surgical treatment for these women," Thomas said.
The researchers found that of the 6,633 women who underwent breast conservation surgery, 799 needed subsequent mastectomy. A third of these were due to failed lumpectomy which usually happened because of underestimation of the disease's extent based on mammogram results. "It would appear that in some hospitals, teams do not look in enough detail at mammogram results," Thomas said.
The patients are also to blame at times. Experts said that some patients still opt for mastectomy regardless if they have been advised that lumpectomy would be sufficient.
Chief Executive of Breast Cancer Campaign Baroness Delyth Morgan said the findings of the study show there is a need to address variations in practice among hospitals in treating breast cancer patients.
"These results highlight a variation in practice which needs to be addressed to ensure that all patients who are given a diagnosis of DCIS receive the highest possible standard of care and most appropriate treatment, regardless of the hospital they are in," Morgan said. "We look forward to seeing how these results can inform practice to ensure that these variations are no longer an issue."
