A global study of nearly 10,000 women with early breast cancer has found wide variations in how they were treated, despite international consensus on best practice, according to new research. Researchers compared 9,779 women with an average age of 64 from 566 study sites in: Belgium (414 women), France (1,230), Germany (1,471), Greece (207), Japan (184), The Netherlands (2,753), UK and Ireland (1,275) and USA (2,232). The results of the study show wide international variations in the percentages of women who receive breast conserving surgery (BCS) rather than breast removal (mastectomy) and radiotherapy after surgery.