Even though many women with unilateral breast cancer consider having contralateral prophylactic mastectomy (CPM), they appear to know little about the procedure, and do not discuss it adequately with their surgeon, according to survey results involving more than 2,400 respondents.

Participants with unilateral breast cancer answered questions about surgical decisions, motivations, and knowledge of treatment options. Investigators looked at the link between CPM receipt and surgeon recommendations. Among the results:

• 44% of patients considered CPM; one-fourth considered it very strongly or strongly.
• Only 4 in every 10 knew that CPM does not improve survival for all women with breast cancer.
• 6 in every 10 received breast conserving surgery, 21% unilateral mastectomy, and 17% CPM.
• 39% of low risk patients said their surgeon recommended against CPM; of those, just 2% had the procedure.
• 19% of low risk patients who received no recommendation for or against CPM went on to have the procedure.