Radiotherapy and immediate expander/implant breast reconstruction: should reconstruction be delayed?

Chest wall irradiation is very common for mastectomy patients that have opted for immediate breast reconstruction. We reviewed a 6 year experience with tissue expander implant reconstruction with and without radiotherapy in 97 patients. All patients were evaluated with respect to aesthetic outcome, infection, implant exposure, capsular contracture, displacement and failure of the reconstruction; more than 50% of our irradiated patients resulted in a complication.

Body image perception and quality of life in patients who underwent breast surgery.

Quality of Life (QoL) has become a standard measure in assessing the effectiveness of medical interventions. We compared the differences between QoL and body image scale (BIS) in a group of patients who underwent breast surgery, including lumpectomy or conservative surgery, modified radical mastectomy and radical mastectomy with breast reconstruction. We included patients who underwent breast surgery between August of 2005 and June of 2006 in two tertiary referral centers in Mexico City.