After undergoing treatment, women with young-onset breast cancer and BRCA mutations had similar survival rates as those women who were not mutation carriers, according to the results of a prospective study published in Lancet Oncology.
Previous studies or meta-analyses comparing outcomes in women with BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations and those with sporadic breast cancer have reported inconsistent effects of these mutations on patient outcomes. The Prospective Outcomes in Sporadic vs Hereditary breast cancer (POSH) study recruited 2,733 young women with breast cancer between 2000 and 2008. At that time, BRCA testing and risk-reducing surgery were not routine for early breast cancer.
Diana M. Eccles, MD, University of Southampton and University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, United Kingdom, and colleagues looked at survival following treatment for the initial breast cancer diagnosed only.
“Our study is the largest of its kind, and our findings suggest that younger women with breast cancer who have a BRCA mutation have similar survival to women who do not carry the mutation after receiving treatment,” Eccles said in a press release. “Women diagnosed with early breast cancer who carry a BRCA mutation are often offered double mastectomies soon after their diagnosis or chemotherapy treatment, however, our findings suggest that this surgery does not have to be immediately undertaken along with the other treatment. In the longer term, risk-reducing surgery should be discussed as an option for BRCA1 mutation carriers in particular, to minimize their future risk of developing a new breast or ovarian cancer. Decisions about timing of additional surgery to reduce future cancer risks should take into account patient prognosis after their first cancer, and their personal preferences.”
Source: Cancer Network
