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The risk for developing contralateral cancer is increased in women diagnosed with unilateral breast cancer, leading some patients to consider contralateral prophylactic mastectomy (CPM). To determine whether the rate of CPM changed from 1998 through 2003, investigators analyzed data from the population-based Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) cancer database, which represents approximately one quarter of the U.S. population.
During the 6-year study period, almost 153,000 women underwent surgery for invasive breast cancer. Most were treated with breast-conserving surgery (lumpectomy, 57.8%) or unilateral mastectomy (38.9%); 3.3% of these surgically treated women also elected CPM-A (CPM-all). Among those women who initially und…