Choice of Breast Reconstruction After Mastectomy Affects Satisfaction, Quality of Life

The researchers emphasize the importance of educating survivors about the tradeoffs involved when choosing type of breast reconstruction to undergo. “These findings can inform patients and their clinicians about expected satisfaction and quality of life outcomes of autologous vs implant-based procedures and further support the adoption of shared decision making in clinical practice.”¹ However, they stress that over the long term and irrespective of the type of reconstruction, all patients exhibited improved psychosocial well-being compared with their preoperative scores.

References

1. Santosa KB, Qi J, Kim HM, Hamill JB, Wilkins EG, Pusic AL. Long-term Patient-Reported Outcomes in Postmastectomy Breast Reconstruction [published online June 20, 2018].  JAMA Surg. doi: 10.1001/jamasurg.2018.1677

2. Pusic AL, Klassen AF, Scott AM, Klok JA, Cordeiro PG, Cano SJ. Development of a new patient-reported outcome measure for breast surgery: the BREAST-Q. Plast Reconstr Surg. 2009;124(2):345-353.