A study has found that patients with breast cancer who are young and the BRCA genes have the same chances of survival as those patients who don’t have the BRCA genes. The study has been made with the help of 3000 women which showed the same outcomes regarding the treatment they had, even with mastectomies. This means that any female can take some time to think about the surgery and whether it’s right for them or not.
Same chances of survival?
The reason why lots of relatives are diagnosed with breast cancer and why a woman’s risk to get sick is higher is because of the mutations on the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. 12% of 2,733 women with ages between 18 and 40 had a BRCA mutation. This study took about 10 years, time in which 651 of the women died from breast cancer; those with the BRCA mutation had the same chances to survive 2, 5 or 10 years, just like the other women without the BRCA mutation had the same chances of survival. Third of those women with the BRCA mutation chose to have a double mastectomy, but unfortunately, showed no improvement of their chances of survival after 10 years of living.
What is the BRCA gene?
Everyone came to know about this gene after Angelina Jolie publicly talked about her 87% chance of having breast cancer.
The most important thing to know is that everyone has this gene inside them, but when a fault happens in one of them, the DNA can get damaged, and this thing can lead to cells becoming cancerous. This fault also comes with a higher risk of ovarian and prostate cancers and, of course, breast cancer.
Let’s not hurry with decisions yet
This study shows that radiotherapy is the safest option in the first 10 years after a diagnosis was given, and this might save women a little time to think, considering the fact that a double mastectomy is not essential at the initial treatment. And this might make women have some more control over their treatment.
