Preventive surgery is done to remove body tissue that is likely to become cancerous (malignant), even though there are no signs of cancer at the time of the surgery. For example, pre-cancerous polyps may be removed from the colon.
Sometimes preventive surgery is used to remove an entire organ when a person has an inherited condition that puts them at a much higher risk for having cancer some day. For example, some women with a strong family history of breast cancer are found to have a change (mutation) in their DNA in a breast cancer gene (BRCA1 or BRCA2). Because their risk of getting breast cancer is high, these women may want to consider prophylactic mastectomy (the breasts are removed before cancer is found).
Friday, January 9, 2009
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