Journal of the National Cancer Institute
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J. Natl. Cancer Inst. · Nov 2001
Efficacy of bilateral prophylactic mastectomy in BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutation carriers.
In women with a family history of breast cancer, bilateral prophylactic mastectomy is associated with a decreased risk of subsequent breast cancer of approximately 90%. We examined the association between bilateral prophylactic mastectomy and breast cancer risk in women at high risk for breast cancer who also had mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. ⋯ Prophylactic mastectomy is associated with a substantial reduction in the incidence of subsequent breast cancer not only in women identified as being at high risk on the basis of a family history of breast cancer but also in known BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation carriers.