Double Mastectomies Significantly Lower Risk of Breast Cancer in Women Who Are Genetically at Risk, Penn Study Shows; PROSE Is First Study to Quantify Risk Reduction for BRCA1, BRCA2 Gene Mutation Carriers.

(From AScribe)

PHILADELPHIA -- An international study led by researchers from the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania has found that a prophylactic double mastectomy - surgical removal of both breasts to prevent a cancer before it occurs - can lower the risk of developing breast cancer by 90 percent in women genetically pre-disposed to the disease. This is the first study to quantify the risk reduction for this procedure and its impact on hundreds of thousands of women in the United States who carry mutations in one or both of the two genes - BRCA1 and BRCA2 - strongly linked to breast and ovarian cancer. Their findings appear in the March 15 edition of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

"Women are still at risk for breast cancer after …