What is a preventive bilateral mastectomy?

What is a preventive bilateral mastectomy?

Bilateral prophylactic mastectomy is the removal of both breasts to prevent breast cancer. Bilateral prophylactic mastectomy lowers the risk of breast cancer in women at high risk by at least 90 percent [38,237-240].

What are the restrictions after a double mastectomy?

Avoid doing strenuous work or taking on too much. Take pain medication: Take pain medication as necessary to manage pain or discomfort in the armpit or chest following surgery. Exercise: The surgeon will recommend arm exercises to speed up recovery. Do these every day to prevent stiffness and maintain flexibility.

Should I have a preventive double mastectomy?

Who Should Consider Having a Preventive Mastectomy? According to the National Cancer Institute, only those women who are at very high risk of breast cancer should consider preventive mastectomy. This includes women with one or more of the following risk factors: BRCA or certain other gene mutations.

How do you qualify for preventive mastectomy?

You may consider prophylactic mastectomy if you have:

1. Already had cancer in one breast.
2. A family history of breast cancer.
3. Positive results from gene testing.
4. Radiation therapy.

Are mastectomies necessary?

Your doctor may recommend a mastectomy instead of a lumpectomy plus radiation if: You have two or more tumors in separate areas of the breast. You have widespread or malignant-appearing calcium deposits (microcalcifications) throughout the breast that have been determined to be cancer after a breast biopsy.

Can you lift your arms after mastectomy?

You should not lift your arm above shoulder level until cleared by your plastic surgeon. You may return to low-impact exercises four weeks after surgery.

Do you regret your prophylactic mastectomy?

Among all the women who chose to undergo preventive mastectomy, 18 (6%) had regrets. “Regrets tended to be less common in the women with whom the discussion of [preventive mastectomy] had been initiated by their physician than in the women who had initiated the discussion themselves,” Montgomery and colleagues write.

Does insurance pay for double mastectomy?

In most cases, yes, as long as the insurance plan also covers medical and surgical benefits for mastectomies.

Is it better to be BRCA positive or negative?

A positive result means you carry a gene mutation that increases your risk of cancer and you can work with your doctor to manage that risk. A negative result may mean that you don’t have the mutation or that you might have a gene mutation doctors haven’t discovered yet.

Is a bilateral mastectomy an option for You?

While a bilateral mastectomy is an option for some women with diagnosis of breast cancer, it can also be used as a risk reducing operation for those who have been identified as having a high risk of developing breast cancer. Surgical management of breast cancer is a highly individualized approach.

What is a bilateral prophylactic mastectomy?

Prophylactic mastectomy (PM) is the surgical removal of the breast for reasons other than that the breast contains cancer. PM is a procedure that the patient chooses to have performed. 29 Bilateral prophylactic mastectomy (BPM) is usually performed on women who have a high risk of developing breast cancer but no personal history of breast cancer.

Can a prophylactic mastectomy help prevent breast cancer?

Prophylactic mastectomy may reduce your risk of breast cancer. Learn how doctors assess breast cancer risk and how prophylactic mastectomy may help prevent breast cancer. Finding out you’re at high risk of breast cancer leads to difficult questions and decisions.

Is a mastectomy right for me?

A mastectomy can significantly reduce the risk of breast cancer. At Moffitt Cancer Center, we understand that breast cancer treatment decisions are highly personal and also can be difficult.