ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION:

Like the rest of the world, breast-conserving theraphy (BCT) is not being applied at expected rates in Turkey. This study was carried out in order to fi nd the factors causing the application of MRM instead of BCT.

METHOD:

375 women were treated with diagnosis of breast cancer and 273 women potentially suitable for BCT who have invasive breast cancer were chosen and they were divided into two groups as MRM and BCT. Factors that may aff ect surgery type were examined with chi-square test and Mann-Whitney U test for one-directional, and with logistic regression for multi-directional analysis. Relative risks (RR) and confi dence intervals (CI) have been calculated and p<0.05 was accepted signifi cant.

RESULTS:

For patients, who were accepted suitable for BCT, MRM has been applied to 68 % and BCT has been applied to 32%. The existence of the tumor at quadrants other than upper quadrant (RR: 0.46,CI: 0.24– 0.87), application of excisional-frozen biopsy as the fi rst diagnostic biopsy (RR: 0.53, CI: 0.31– 0.91), tumor diameter being more than 2 cm (RR: 0.49, CI: 0.28– 0.86) and the surgeon’s experience of less than 35 breast cancer operations during the period of study (RR:0.38, CI:0.17–0.72) have been eff ective at the choice of MRM.

CONCLUSION:

MRM rates may be decreased by having the biopsy with screening methods (needle localization or cor), not using the tumor diameter as a criterion, application of BCT to tumors at other sides than upper quadrant and orientation of the treatment by surgeons who are more experienced at breast operations.