In a new study published online Monday in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, researchers report that the rate of double mastectomy in women with single-breast cancer rose 150 percent in six years - even though the aggressive treatment doesn’t necessarily improve survival rates.

The researchers used a national cancer-treatment database to study the treatment decisions of more than 150,000 women who were diagnosed with cancer in a single breast from 1998 to 2003. White women, younger women and women whose cancer originated in their milk glands, increasing risk of occurrence in the other breast, were more likely to choose a double mastectomy, the researchers found.

“It’s a very vulnerable time for these patients. In a very short period of time they have to decide how to treat their breast cancer. Under the stress of the situation they will have both breasts removed because it seems logical at the time,” said lead author Dr. Todd Tuttle, chief of surgical oncology at the University of Minnesota.

The actual number of women choosing double mastectomy remains relatively small: Of all women undergoing mastectomies of any kind in the study, 4.2 percent chose double mastectomy in 1998, rising to 11 percent in 2003. A total of 4,969 women in the study received a double mastectomy.

The trend is troubling, Tuttle said. Cancer is more likely to spread to other parts of the body than it is to develop in the second breast. Women often make the irreversible decision too quickly, when they are under duress, he said.

“I often tell patients to wait, saying, ‘Let’s treat the cancer we know about and deal with that,’ ” Tuttle said.

One in every eight women will develop invasive breast cancer at some time in their lives, according to the American Cancer Society. In 2004, the most recent year for which federal data is available, nearly 187,000 women in the United States were diagnosed with breast cancer and nearly 50,000 women died.

Typically discovered through mammography or direct examination, breast cancer is treated with medication, chemotherapy, radiation, and surgeries ranging from lumpectomy, in which a part of the breast is removed, to mastectomy, in which the entire breast is removed and in many cases reconstructed with implants or tissue from other parts of the body.

Doctors and patients’ advocates urged women considering the procedure to go for counseling and take their time before making a decision, noting that other risk-reducing options were available.

Shirley McQueen is a fashion store owner. She lives in terror of something her family calls ‘the beast’. It’s killed 14 of her relatives, but Shirley McQueen has a radical plan to evade the disease. Shirley McQueen has spent most of her life preparing for her death; she has even planned her funeral.

“The Beast” in actual, the breast cancer, felled her mother, her older sister, five of her aunts, one great, great aunt and six of her cousins. Another cousin in the United States has just found out that “the beast” has attacked her too.

Shirley has decided to remove both her breasts to prevent her from getting the disease. “Every woman who has died in my family has died of breast cancer,” she says.

“The women in my family haven’t lived long enough to see their grandchildren. When my older sister was diagnosed, her daughter was pregnant and she said she was going to hang on to see the baby, but she didn’t manage it. If I ask to be here to see my grandchildren, am I asking too much?”

She will be checking into a clinic next month for pre-surgery checks before undergoing breast-removal surgery.

Frustrated with death and attending funerals, McQueen, whose mother died of breast cancer when she was five years old, is determined to see her children get married, hence her drastic pre-emptive move.

And not even a man would have a say in her decision.

She said: “Even if I had a man, it wouldn’t matter. I don’t want to die prematurely. I want to see my children marry. My mom did not have that opportunity. None of the women in my family did. This is a lot easier to deal with than finding a lump in my breast.”

“My family has tried to dissuade me. They think that illness comes directly from God and that you shouldn’t play around with God’s work,” she says.

But Shirley firmly believes that more can be done to reverse the horrible fate of women like herself, and that awareness needs to be raised about breast cancer, particularly in the black community. Regular breast checks, screening and, in cases like hers, preventative mastectomies should all be considered, she says.

McQueen says that she is undergoing her surgery for the sake of her children. “I’m not frightened of dying but I am frightened of leaving my children. I’m always thinking about dying and I want that to stop. Once I’ve had the surgery I’ll be able to sleep again. All I want is to have my life.”