Unnecessary Breast Cancer Surgery More Likely For Latinas

According to a report from Reuters, Latinas, low-income, and older women are most likely to get unneeded surgery for breast cancer.

As found in the study, more than a third of 18,000 women in California who had mastectomies due to early stage breast cancer had their lymph nodes removed as well, even though they all had node-negative tumors, meaning the cancer hadn’t spread farther than the breast.  Lymph nodes are removed from under the armpit, which can later lead to painful side effects including swelling or numbness.

Troubling, since there are “2005 guidelines recommending a gentler surgery that spares most of the lymph nodes,” and an early study published this year suggested “removing the lymph nodes doesn’t help women live longer, as long as they are getting radiation and chemotherapy.”

According to a surgeon who worked on the study, there’s no apparent explanation why Latinas, poor and older women are most at risk.  Dr. Sharon Lum of Loma Linda University in California, told Reuters:

The gentler surgery isn’t more expensive… but it does require more coordination between different departments, adding an extra step that some surgeons might prefer to avoid.

“There are surgeons that choose not to do it, and there are patients that don’t know it’s better,” she explained. “The take-home message for patients and surgeons is, you have to be educated about the downstream consequences of the surgery you choose to do.”

Considering being diagnosed with breast cancer is difficult enough, extra surgery, pain, and suffering is definitely something all women undergoing treatment want to avoid.