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Julie Billar, M.D.: Age is a question that a lot of women bring up for breast cancer
surgery. While age is not the limiting factor alone in our decisions, it certainly plays
a big role in how one recovers after surgery. How age affects breast cancer surgery is probably
a question I would divide into two parts. First would be, how age affects what surgery
we can offer to patients; the second is probably how age affects how a woman recovers and heals
after surgery, so I will tackle the first part first. Age alone is usually not the limiting
factor on what we can offer patients. We usually take into account things like the tumor size,
the size of the woman's breast, her other medical problems, the biology of the tumor,
multiple things going to that decision. So if a woman is otherwise eligible in terms
of the tumor size for a lumpectomy or a mastectomy, we will offer either one and we take the patient's
preference into account to make that final decision. I wouldn't say that age alone limits
them. On the other hand, though sometimes age comes with a few more medical problems
and that can certainly weigh into what we decide for a patient's recommendations. If
we have a more elderly patient who has more medical problems, a lot of times if we are
looking at a lumpectomy or a mastectomy, if it looks like it would be more difficult for
that patient to recuperate after a longer surgery, let's say from a mastectomy, then
we will favor a lumpectomy for that person instead. The second part of the question kind
of tackles what the recovery anticipation should be for patients depending on their
age. You know, many younger women have more strength, more energy and can bounce back
from surgery a little bit more quickly than our elderly patients. Although to some degree,
our elderly patients have less pain after surgery, some say because as you get older,
your pain fibers fizzle out a little bit. So generally both age ranges heal very well
after a surgery. It's just important to make sure that
you are in as healthy of a state as you can before surgery to aid your recovery after
surgery.