The Psychosocial Impact of Prophylactic Mastectomy and Salpingo-Oophorectomy

Breast cancer accounts for about a quarter of all female cancers. The majority of all breast cancers worldwide occur in the USA and Europe. Of 12,000 to 13,000 new breast cancer cases that are annually diagnosed in the Netherlands, mostly in women above the age of 50 years, approximately 3,500 women (28%) die of the disease. The lifetime risk for breast cancer for a woman in the Netherlands is 12-13%. It is estimated that 5-10% of all breast cancer cases are caused by a definable genetic predisposition, which then is characterized by a young age at onset and a familial aggregation following a dominant inheritance pattern (www.cbo.nl).