More breast cancer patients can choose smaller surgery
By CARLA K. JOHNSON
AP Medical Writer
A new breast cancer study finds many women with two or three breast tumors can get by with lumpectomy surgery instead of having their whole breast removed. The research is being discussed Friday at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. Experts say it’s an important finding because more sensitive imaging techniques are revealing tiny, once-hidden cancers. That means more patients are being diagnosed with multiple cancer sites in the same breast. The researchers followed nearly 200 women with two or three tumors in one breast who had lumpectomies followed by radiation. Just 3% saw cancer come back after five years.
