Open Access
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Avicenna J Med 2018; 8(03): 67-77
DOI: 10.4103/ajm.AJM_21_18
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Prophylactic mastectomy for the prevention of breast cancer: Review of the literature

Rawan K. Alaofi
Taibah University College of Medicine, Medina, Saudi Arabia
,
Mohammed O. Nassif
Department of Surgery, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
,
Marwan R. Al-Hajeili
Department of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
› Author Affiliations

Financial support and sponsorship Nil.
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Abstract

The high incidence and recurrence rate of breast cancer has influenced multiple strategies such as early detection with imaging, chemoprevention and surgical interventions that serve as preventive measures for women at high risk. Prophylactic mastectomy is one of the growing strategies of breast cancer risk reduction that is of a special importance for breast cancer gene mutation carriers. Women with personal history of cancerous breast lesions may consider ipsilateral or contralateral mastectomy as well. Existing data showed that mastectomy effectively reduces breast cancer risk. However, careful risk estimation is necessary to wisely select individuals who will benefit from preventing breast cancer.



Publication History

Article published online:
12 August 2021

© 2018. Syrian American Medical Society. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

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