Unregistered

I was stage IV from the beginning. After my mets responded very well to chemo (became NED) my oncologist strongly encouraged me to have a mastectomy, although she acknowledged that there was not conclusive evidence that this would help, just retrospective studies. In addition to believing that it could help extend survival, she also thought we wouldn't have to worry about using up chemo treatments treating recurrences in the breast or dealing with the consequences of uncontrollable breast tumors. Also, because I have inflammatory breast cancer, recurrences in the breast can be particularly awful. It is now about four years since my surgery, and I am still (NED).

I researched this a lot four years ago, and there were a fair number of retrospective studies on this topic. Unlike the abstract you posted, most found surgery had a benefit. A few reached the opposite conclusion.