By: Chase Doyle

More extensive surgery does not improve survival over less aggressive surgery in younger women with breast cancer, according to data presented at the 2022 American Society of Breast Surgeons Annual Meeting.1 The results of a retrospective study of nearly 600 patients showed that treatment with mastectomy had no impact on survival among younger women with breast cancer compared with lumpectomy. Survival rates were also similar across hormone receptor and HER2 subtypes. 

Within the hormone receptor–positive/HER2-negative group, however, failure to comply with hormonal therapy when prescribed was associated with increased mortality. Additionally, Black women with triple-negative breast cancer had a 5.7 times increased risk of death.

“These results are particularly significant because younger women are increasingly being diagnosed with breast cancer, despite low rates overall, and a growing number are undergoing mastectomy and even prophylactic bilateral mastectomy rather than breast-conserving surgery,” said lead study author Christine Pestana, MD, breast surgical oncology fellow at Atrium Health, Levine Cancer Institute, Winston-Salem, North Carolina. “Studies like this show that lumpectomy, a far less aggressive approach with fewer potential complications and morbidity, is equally as effective as removing an entire breast in appropriate cases.”

Read more: https://ascopost.com/issues/may-25-2022/surgical-approach-and-overall-survival-in-younger-women-with-breast-cancer/