What Made Her Give Up Her Breasts: a Qualitative Study on Decisional Considerations for Contralateral Prophylactic

Women who carry a mutation of BRCA1 or BRCA 2 gene have an increased lifetime risk of breast cancer as high as 50-85% (Matloff et al., 2000; Antoniou et al., 2003; King et al., 2003). The annual risk for contralateral cancer for mutated BRCA1 or BRCA2 carrier is increased by approximately 3% and the overall risk may be as high as 52% by age 70 years. Options for carriers include early and regular surveillance, chemoprevention, and prophylactic surgery. Given the significant increased risk of contralateral breast cancer for young breast cancer female patients with a strong family history, prophylactic mastectomy is the most effective method for breast cancer risk management. It can reduce the risk of breast cancer by more than 90% in women at high risk (Hartmann et al., 1999; Domchek et al., 2006), and there is an increasing trend in its introduction as a preventative option for high-