--- title: Mastectomy May Not Improve Long Term Chances of Surviving Breast Cancer description: The latest study adds support to the data suggesting that in some cases, less may be more in treating breast cancer canonical: https://time.com/2994317/removing-both-breasts-may-not-lead-to-better-survival-from-breast-cancer/ author: Alice Park article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-07-17T11:00:04.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T09:11:27.734Z article:section: Health og:title: Mastectomy May Not Improve Long Term Chances of Surviving Breast Cancer og:description: The latest study adds support to the data suggesting that in some cases, less may be more in treating breast cancer og:url: https://time.com/2994317/removing-both-breasts-may-not-lead-to-better-survival-from-breast-cancer/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Mastectomy May Not Improve Long Term Chances of Surviving Breast Cancer twitter:description: The latest study adds support to the data suggesting that in some cases, less may be more in treating breast cancer twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Removing Both Breasts May Not Improve Survival From Breast Cancer  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Jul 17, 2014 11:00 AM UTC  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Jul 17, 2014 11:00 AM UTC Researchers at the University of Minnesota confirm that when it comes to treating some forms of breast cancer, drastic surgery to remove breast tissue may not help in improving survival from the disease. Reporting in the [_Journal of the National Cancer Institute_](http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org/), the scientists describe a model for calculating life expectancy based on recent rates of recurrent cancers among women with stage 1 or stage 2 disease. Although previous studies found that among women diagnosed with breast cancer in one breast, removing the other breast can lower risk of breast cancer in that breast by up to 90%, few studies have documented whether that also translated into greater survival of breast cancer, which can recur in other organs. According to the researchers’ model, the overall difference in survival at 20 years after diagnosis for both women who had their opposing, unaffected breast removed and those who did not, was less than 1%. The data confirm recent findings from a [study of women with metastatic disease](http://healthland.time.com/2013/12/11/even-with-metastatic-breast-cancer-some-patients-should-say-no-to-surgery-and-radiation/), which also showed that women who received additional surgery to remove lymph nodes and their breasts did not survive any longer than those who were treated with chemotherapy only. As TIME [wrote](http://healthland.time.com/2013/12/11/even-with-metastatic-breast-cancer-some-patients-should-say-no-to-surgery-and-radiation/) about that study, --- > “” --- In the current study, the researchers note that survival is only one factor that women may take into account when debating whether to remove an unaffected breast. In an accompanying editorial, other researchers echoed the distinction, saying that quality of life and peace of mind factors may be important reasons for supporting the continued use of prophylactic mastectomy surgery. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2994317/removing-both-breasts-may-not-lead-to-better-survival-from-breast-cancer/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2994317/removing-both-breasts-may-not-lead-to-better-survival-from-breast-cancer/"},"headline":"Removing Both Breasts May Not Improve Survival From Breast Cancer","datePublished":"2014-07-17T11:00:04.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:11:27.734Z","description":"The latest study adds support to the data suggesting that in some cases, less may be more in treating breast cancer","url":"https://time.com/2994317/removing-both-breasts-may-not-lead-to-better-survival-from-breast-cancer/","keywords":["Breast Cancer"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alice Park","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/alice-park/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/breast-cancer/","name":"Breast Cancer"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2994317/removing-both-breasts-may-not-lead-to-better-survival-from-breast-cancer/","name":"Removing Both Breasts May Not Improve Survival From Breast Cancer"}}]}] ```