Posted on 10/02/2002 6:55:33 AM PDT by Tumbleweed_Connection
Women with a high-risk cancer gene should remove their breasts and ovaries as a precaution in order to live longer, according to controversial new research.
A study by the charity Cancer Research UK shows women with the gene live up to 12 years longer if they have preventive surgery.
The researchers found removing both breasts decreased a woman's risk of developing breast cancer by 90%.
Surgery to remove both ovaries appeared to reduce the risk of ovarian cancer 24-fold and halved the risk of breast cancer.
Faulty gene
Lead researcher Dr Paul Harkin also from Queen's, said: "Surgery to remove a woman's breasts and ovaries may seem like a drastic step but we have to remember that the women involved in these studies are at a very high risk of breast and ovarian cancer."
The study also found breast screening for women in the high-risk category could be ineffective.
Lead author Dr Richard Kennedy, from Queen's University Belfast, said: "One reason for the failure of screening is that tumours are often fast growing and can develop between screening appointments."
The BRCA1 gene normally helps mend damaged genetic material, but some women have a faulty version which can lead to a lifetime risk of breast cancer and a high risk of ovarian cancer.
Choices
Between one in 500 and one in 1,000 women worldwide have a BRCA1 gene mutation - around 31,250 women in the UK could therefore be affected.
The researchers stressed it was important that each woman make their own choices and, while some may opt for surgery, once past childbearing age, others might prefer to rely on regular screening.
I have worked in healthcare for 30+ years and in cancer research programs for 7 years. There is nothing new about breast removal. They were doing it back in the 70's for women who had severe fibrocystic disease which was once thought to be a serious precursor to breast cancer--they have since found that is not true.
I am not prepared to argue with these stats, but the reality is when they remove a woman's breast tissue, there is no guarantee that they have removed all of it which still leaves a potential.
Many people have a genetic pre-disposition to colon cancer as well. As the other posters have been mentioning--how many organs can we have removed to insure that we don't get cancer. Sure thing is--none of us are getting out of here alive!
ROTFLMAO!!
In England in the 19th century there was a brief period when it was actually thought by (sorry!) "cutting-edge" medical experts that surgical removal of the colon was health-enhancing - whole thing's septic, dontcha know. Um...it was one of those things that works better in theory than in practice...
None of us is getting out of here alive.
No way would these same experts say, "Men with a high-risk cancer gene should remove their testicles as a precaution in order to live longer, according to controversial new research."
You're right. You know why that is? It's because they don't do hardly any research on male-specific cancers. You ladies have lobbied and howled for so much money to be spent on breast cancer that there is now more spent on that than on all male-specific and all child-specific cancers combined. And breast cancer isn't even the #1 killer of women. It isn't even the #1 cancer among women. It's all symbolism over substance. Now comes the ridiculous result that can be expected from spending more money than they know what to do with, and your response is that women are the victims.
Gimme gimme gimme, victim victim victim. When does that act end?
Aside from the obvious comment that one cannot live without lungs and brains, where the heck are all you people when it comes to circumcision threads?
An adult woman whose risk of cancer is proven to be high should have the right to have as much breast tissue removed as she feels comfortable with. She is the one living with the fear and the risk. I do wonder if this will become treatment endorsed, encouraged, enforced by insurance companies.
Ovarian cancer is very difficult to detect early enough to matter. If my risk were high, I would certainly get as much info as I could and concider it. At least with breasts, one can be easily screened, quite often.
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