Reconstructive Surgery on the Rise in Breast Cancer Patients

Breast cancer patients are more and more likely to get plastic surgery after being treated for their illness, according to the findings of a new study of women who undergo mastectomies across the U.S.

A mastectomy is a surgical procedure that removes the breast or breasts of a patients suffering from breast cancer. A new study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology shows that there has been an almost 20 percent increase in the number of women who get reconstructive breast surgery after having their breasts removed since 1998.

The study, which looked at the surgical history of women suffering from breast cancer between 1998 and 2007, found that approximately 18% of women who are battling breast cancer choose to get both of their breasts surgically removed in a process called a double mastectomy.

Double mastectomies have become more popular among breast cancer patients in the last few years as recent studies have shown early mastectomies increase survival rate by nearly 50 percent. Proactive double mastectomies have also become an encouraged procedure for women who carry a BRCA gene mutation, like actress Angelina Jolie, as they have a 70 percent likelihood of developing breast cancer in their lifetime.

The study also showed that three quarters of women who went through a double mastectomy followed it up with breast reconstructive surgery.

Interestingly, the researchers noted that the numbers for reconstructive surgery after a mastectomy vary massively in the U.S. from state to state. In Washington D.C. for instance, approximately 80 percent of women suffering from breast cancer wind up getting reconstructive surgery. Adversely, only about 18 percent of breast cancer patients got reconstructive surgery in North Dakota.

In their concluding statements the researchers explain that this often has to go with regional approaches, accessibility, and attitudes towards both mastectomies and reconstructive plastic surgery. The researchers write that more research will be needed to be done into the accessibility of both procedures across the U.S. to ensure that all breast cancer sufferers receive the treatment they deserve.

The study was published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology on February 18.