Study May Aid Breast Surgery Decisions

A study offers new information to help women with cancer in one breast. Some women decide to have the other breast removed to keep cancer from growing there. But it’s hard to know which women will have a second cancer. The new study looked at 542 cases. All of the women had cancer in one breast and decided to have both removed. Tests after surgery showed that 25 women had cancer in the second breast. Many of these women had more than one tumor in the first breast. They also had higher scores on a risk assessment called the Gail Model. Researchers said knowing this could help women make decisions. USA Today wrote about the study January 26. It was in the journal Cancer.