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Women who suffer or have suffered from breast cancer could be offered more reconstructive surgery under new industry guidelines.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) has recommended that surgeons should be trained in reconstructive procedures and encouraged to discuss the options with patients.

James Smallwood, a consultant surgeon at Southampton University Hospital who chaired the Nice Guidance Development Group, said: "If a mastectomy for whatever reason is the best option, an immediate reconstruction should not only be available but the choice of types of reconstruction should be made available to every woman."

Nice conceded that the UK has some of the best care available for cancer/” target=”_self”>cancer life insurance policyholders, but said the after-care was where work needed to be done.

This comes after a study by Professor Sir Michael Marmot suggested that the instances of cancer in the UK are likely to double in the next 40 years.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, February 26th, 2009 at 4:00 pm and is filed under Cancer.