A woman's decision to undergo mastectomy for breast cancer relies on communication with her surgeon and, in addition, often draws on recommendations from a "multidisciplinary team" (MDT) of doctors from different specialties such as oncology and radiology. An analysis published in the BJS found that most mastectomies in the UK are advised when tumours are large, and that some of these might have been avoided if more women had been given hormone therapy or chemotherapy to shrink the cancer before the surgery.
The authors noted that if the MDTs in the UK used standard recommendations for hormone therapy or chemotherapy before breast cancer surgery, this could potentially reduce the number of women who needed a mastectomy.
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BJS