Cancer experts rule out mastectomies

Breast removal is "unnecessary" for most women when treating cancer, scientists claimed today.

Breast cancer survival rates for women who underwent mastectomies were no higher than those who had smaller operations to remove the tumour alone, according to the research.

Mastectomy, total removal of the breast, which can cause longterm psychological damage, has been regarded as the safest way of dealing with breast cancer for more than 80 years.

The findings of the 20-year study, the first of its kind, will cause alarm among women who have had breasts removed in a bid to fight the disease. A total of 51,000 breast cancer operations were performed in England between 2000 and 2001, 15,000 of which were mastectomies.

The research, by American and Italian scientists, revealed how 2,500 patients were examined throughout the Seventies and Eighties. The results, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, show that recurrence of cancer was slightly higher among women who had undergone lumpectomies, removal of the tumour alone, rather than the whole breast. But overall survival rates were unaffected due to modern chemotherapy and radiotherapy techniques which reduce the possibility of recurrence.

The findings will lend weight to women taking legal action against surgeons for performing unnecessary mastectomies.

Michael Dixon, consultant breast surgeon at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, said: "A surgeon who advises a woman to have a mastectomy without making it clear why and offering her the choice of breast conserving surgery could face legal action for negligence."

Mr Dixon said mastectomy was sometimes necessary, for example when there were two tumours or a large area of pre-cancer.