Basic epidemiologic data on cases of breast reconstruction after mastectomy in breast cancer patients

Abstract

Background. The mastectomy (ME) frequency does not decrease. ME has an adverse psychological effect on patients. Breast reconstruction (BR) is an important stage in rehabilitation of breast cancer (BC) patients but the method of choice of BR (immediate or delayed) is still a point at issue. Thus, the assessment of BR results after ME in breast cancer patients is an essential task. Methods. A retrospective cohort study was conducted. From the database of the Saint Petersburg Medical Information and Analytical Center we selected data about the women who were diagnosed with BC and came through ME in 2011–2012 and BR in 2011–2017. The study included information about all BC and BR surgeries in St. Petersburg female BC patients in 2011–2017. We used Statistica 12.0 for Windows and the information from the Population Cancer Register for statistical data processing. The differences were considered statistically significant at p < 0.05. Results. Delayed BR was 1.5 times more frequent than the immediate one (p = 0.0003). The average age of patients who underwent delayed BR was 5 years less than that in the immediate surgery group (p = 0.0017). In 127 (77.4 %) cases, BR after ME was done in women of working age. Cases of stage I BC prevailed in the study groups – 46.2 % (30/65) and 35.4 % (35/99), respectively. Conclusion. BR after ME was more prevalent in working-age women with stages I and II BC. Immediate BR was more frequent in cases with the tumor size less than 2.0 cm. There were no statistically significant differences in the 5-year survival rates in immediate and delayed BR groups (83.1 % and 81.8 %, respectively, p = 0.83). BR surgeries, both immediate and delayed, in BC patients pose no risk of cancer.