ANN ARBOR, Mich., March 26 (UPI) -- Women might make different breast cancer treatment decisions if they were referred to a plastic surgeon prior to the initial surgery, a U.S. study suggests.
A study published in the journal Cancer found 44 percent of surgeons referred fewer than 25 percent of their patients to a plastic surgeon prior to mastectomy when the patient was choosing her treatment course.
Twenty-four percent of surgeons referred three-quarters or more of their patients for reconstruction, according to study leader Dr. Amy Alderman, an assistant professor of plastic surgery at the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor.
Fewer than 20 percent of women who were candidates for breast reconstruction choose to undergo the procedure. Surgeons attributed low rates to patients not interested in the option or concerns that the plastic surgery reconstruction took too long, the study said.
Nearly half of the surgeons questioned felt patients were concerned about the cost of reconstruction surgery, despite a nearly decade-old federal law that mandated insurance coverage of breast reconstruction.
