After a seven-year dip in numbers, researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, have witnessed a steady increase in the number of mastectomies performed there in the past three years.  Evidence reveals a correlation between the higher number of mastectomies performed during the early stages of breast cancer and the use of diagnostic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) prior to surgery.

An MRI can detect both cancerous and noncancerous lesions in breast tissue, which may lead to a higher level of anxiety in both the patient and her doctor.  This, along with the greater awareness of the hereditary nature of breast cancer, may be why more women are opting for mastectomy instead of breast conserving therapy, or BCT.  BCT, involving a lumpectomy plus radiation, has become standard procedure for treating breast cancer in stages I and II since about 1990.  It was at that time that the National Institutes of Health filed a report saying BCT was as effective as mastectomy when breast cancer was detected in these early stages.

The Mayo Clinic researchers, led by Rajini Katipamula, MD, lead author for the study and senior clinical fellow for the clinic’s hematology and oncology department, studied the clinic’s annual rate of mastectomy in 5,414 women from 1997 to 2006.  Starting at 44% in 1997 and dropping to 30% in 2003, the rate of mastectomies rose to 43% in 2006.

From 2003 to 2006, the number of breast cancer patients getting MRI rose from 11% to 23%.  Of the women choosing mastectomy, 52% had also had an MRI before surgery while only 41% of the women who did not have an MRI chose mastectomy.

In addition to an increased awareness of the significance of genetics that has come about during the past decade, researchers also cite improved options for breast reconstruction after surgery as perhaps another decisive factor in the increase in the number of mastectomies.

Senior author for the study, Mathew Goetz, MD, and assistant professor of the oncology department at the Mayo Clinic, will present the findings of the study at the 44th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) on May 31.  The announcement was made during a May 15 press conference.

Funding for the study was provided by the Mary Clinic Breast Cancer Specialized Program of Research Excellence and the Paul Calabresi Program in Clinical-Translational Research, also at the Mayo Clinic.

Source: Mayo Clinic