Women diagnosed with early-stage cancer in one breast and that opt for a double mastectomy have the same likelihood of long-term survival as those who choose a less-invasive lumpectomy.

A mastectomy involves removing the entire breast. Only the lump and the surrounding tissues are removed in a lumpectomy.

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Scientists at Stanford University and the Cancer Prevention Institute of California in Fremont studied the survival rates of women with early-stage cancer who underwent double mastectomies, single mastectomies and lumpectomies followed by radiation therapy.

Data was obtained from the California Cancer Registry for cases between 1998 and 2011. There were 190,000 cases in the database.

Dr. Allison Kurian, assistant professor of health research and policy at Stanford and lead author of the study, said they were surprised there was no difference in the survival rates of the women,  even among younger ones.

Data showed the percentage of women below 40, particularly white young women, who chose to have both breasts removed increased from 3.6 percent in 1998 to 33 percent in 2011.

It seems the anxiety about going through cancer a second time and the vast improvements in breast reconstruction surgery prompted women to undergo double mastectomies.

Young women, in particular, opted for double mastectomies because getting cancer at a young age may give rise to a more aggressive disease.

Dr. Kurian said although women who have had breast cancer are slightly more at risk at having breast cancer again compared to those who have never had the disease, the risk of another cancer is still quite low.

"On some level, they don't care how low their risk is, but they want to do whatever is possible to obliterate their possibility of getting another cancer."

The spread of cancer should be a patient's primary concern and not the growth of a new individual tumor, Kurian stated.

Roxanne Sager of Rodeo, who had a lumpectomy in 2006, said the study makes her feel better about the procedure she chose. She said if getting a mastectomy would have made a significant difference to the outcome, she would have gotten it.

Now cancer-free, Sager said the study makes her feel better "... but I would have done whatever."