Survival May Be Better with Lumpectomy

Women who have only the lump removed in early-stage breast cancer may have better survival rates than women who get a mastectomy, a study suggests. Researchers looked at records for more than 112,000 women. All of them had early breast cancer, Stage I or II. Most women with early breast cancer can have the lump removed (lumpectomy) instead of the whole breast (mastectomy). In the study, 55% chose lumpectomy, followed by radiation. The others had mastectomies. Researchers kept track of the women for a median of 9 years. Half were followed for a longer time, and half for less time. More than 31,000 women died during follow-up. About 40% of the deaths were from breast cancer. Women who had a lumpectomy and radiation were more likely to survive than those who had mastectomies. The difference was greatest for women over 50 with a type of cancer that grows in response to hormones.