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Study shows women often choose mastectomy over lumpectomy

Ambulatory Surgery Reimbursement Update, August 30, 2005

Despite most surgeons pushing for lumpectomy for the surgical treatment of breast cancer, women, when given a choice, often do not want the breast-conserving surgery but rather opt for mastectomy, according to the results of a new study published in the August issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Twenty-seven percent of women who made the surgical decision on their own chose mastectomy, but only 16.8% of women who asked their surgeons to help make the decision had a mastectomy. When the decision is left to the surgeon, just 5.3% had a mastectomy.

Survival rates are the same with both procedures, but Steven J. Katz, MD, MPH, lead author of the study, speculated that women chose mastectomy over lumpectomy because of "concerns about disease recurrence risk and, to a lesser extent, concerns about radiation exposure and recovery from surgical treatment," according to MedPage Today.

The study was conducted by a team of researchers from the University of Michigan.

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