CANCER VICTIMS 'DON'T HAVE TO LOSE BREAST TO BATTLE DISEASE' Irish docs urge minimal surgery.

Byline: BY DEMELZA de BURCA

WOMEN with breast cancer do not need a mastectomy to battle the disease, it was claimed yesterday.

Scientists in Dublin are urging surgeons to aim for minimal breast tissue removal when operating on a tumour as cutting out healthy flesh is not of benefit.

Mr Malcolm Kell, a consultant surgeon with the Mater Misericordiae Hospital in Dublin and BreastCheck, the Governmentfunded screening programme, said research found taking more than 2mm of surrounding healthy tissue did not offer extra protection against the cancer recurring.

"It 2mm is as effective as a wider margin, and if you just have that minimal removal you are getting the benefit of the best cancer outcome, but equally you are avoiding the detrimental effect of a bad aesthetic result for the patient.

"The standard of care for patients is breast-conserving surgery and to avoid a mastectomy wherever possible, and these findings are reassuring that this is a good thing to do."

"We want to make sure that the patients get the best chance of having no recurrence of the tumour or systemic disease. It's easy to overtreat patients and you might think it's of benefit to do excessively large surgery."

Mr Kell and Mater colleagues Clive Dunne and John Burke, along with surgeon Monica Morrow from the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre in New York, analysed clinical trial results for 4,660 patients treated with surgery and radiotherapy.

He said the findings also supported the ethos of cancer management in the BreastCheck programme, which invites women aged 50 to 64 to have routine mammograms.

Mr Kell added: "If patients have an early cancer detected by going to BreastCheck, their longterm outlook is excellent."