ASBS 2010: Economy, Rise in Mastectomies Temper Minimally Invasive Advancements in Breast Care

Article preview from Medtech Insight - June, 2010

Surgeons attending the 11th annual meeting of the American Society of Breast Surgeons were perplexed by the reversal of the trend away from mastectomy and toward breast-conserving therapies. Advanced breast-conserving products were presented at the meeting; but with lowered revenue expectations that can ultimately be attributed to the economic woes of the past couple of years. High unemployment and the lack of health care coverage have prompted many women to delay or forego their yearly mammogram, and as a result, the numbers of biopsies, surgeries, and radiation therapy procedures have declined as well.

ASBS 2010: Economy, Rise in Mastectomies Temper Minimally Invasive Advancements in Breast Care

Article preview from Medtech Insight - June, 2010

More than 1,400 breast surgeons gathered in Las Vegas this spring for the American Society of Breast Surgeons (ASBS) 11th Annual Meeting to discuss the latest issues affecting surgeons who treat breast disease. Over the past decade, this specialized group of surgeons has worked to develop advanced technologies for the treatment of breast cancer, uncover risk factors, and advance patient education—all in hopes of reducing cancer recurrence rates and improving cosmetic outcomes for women with breast disease.

These efforts led to a gradual trend away from mastectomy and toward breast-conserving therapies. However, a recent unanticipated reversal of that trend now has ASBS members perplexed. Advanced breast-conserving products were presented at the meeting; but with lowered revenue expectations that can ultimately be attributed to the economic woes of the past couple of years. High unemployment and the lack of health care coverage have prompted many women to delay or forego their yearly mammogram, and as a result, the numbers of biopsies, surgeries, and radiation therapy procedures have declined as well.

The current National Institutes of Health recommendation states that breast-conserving surgery (BCS) with accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI) should be presented to all qualified patients because it offers the least amount of tissue removal and eliminates unnecessary radiation to healthy tissue while maintaining similar survival rates (as mastectomy). However, several factors are currently acting to dampen growth in this market, including a cautionary consensus statement on APBI issued last year by the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO), a recent increase in patient demand for mastectomies in lieu of BCS, and economic pressures that are causing women to defer their yearly mammograms.

- Diana Tucker

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Medtech Insight newsletter provides insights into the technology and market developments (devices, instrumentation, biomaterials, gene therapy, tissue engineering, etc.) impacting a wide range of surgical and non-surgical clinical practices.