African-American women are less likely to be treated with breast reconstruction after mastectomy than women of other races, independent of age and clinical and socioeconomic factors.
According to a new study published August 23, 2004 in the online edition of CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, African-American women had significantly lower immediate breast reconstruction rates compared to Caucasian, Asian, and Hispanic women. The abstract of this article will be freely accessible via the CANCER Newsroom.
Race has been demonstrated to be a significant independent risk factor in the clinical course of many diseases, including breast cancer and lung cancer. Its role is complex and may directly affect tumor behavior through genetic factors, lack of access to healthcare, and treatment patterns. Few studies have examined the impact of race on patient care by examining specific physician-patient interactions. Moreover, few studies have characterized treatment differences in Hispanic, Middle Eastern, and Asian women.
Henry M. Kuerer, M.D., Ph.D., from the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center and his colleagues reviewed data from 1004 patients with primary breast cancer treated with mastectomy. They investigated what role if any race plays in predicting immediate or delayed breast reconstruction.
Women who elect mastectomy to treat breast cancer have to decide whether to undergo immediate breast reconstruction at the time of mastectomy, or delay breast reconstruction for months to years to complete adjuvant therapy, or not have breast reconstruction at all. However, previous investigators have found that women who elect immediate breast reconstruction have greater improvement in quality of life compared to women who undergo delayed reconstruction.