New Info on breast reconstruction

By Jennifer Warner
WebMD Medical News Reviewed By Brunilda Nazario, MD
on Wednesday, December 22, 2004


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Dec. 22, 2004 -- Having breast reconstruction after a mastectomy isn't likely to hurt a woman's chances of surviving breast cancer, a new study suggests.

In fact, the research shows that women with early breast cancer who get breast implants after mastectomy may actually have better survival odds than those who don't.

Researchers say previous studies have already shown that breast implants do not have any negative effects in breast cancer survivors over the short term, but this study is the first to show that breast reconstruction is also safe over the long term.

The results of the study appear in the Dec. 23 issue of Breast Cancer Research.

Breast Reconstruction Safe

Researchers looked at the effects of breast reconstruction with breast implants on long-term survival in more than 4,000 women under age 65 diagnosed with early breast cancer between 1983 and 1989. All of the women had been treated with mastectomy (complete removal of breast tissue) and followed for about 12 years after their breast cancer diagnosis.

Twenty-one percent of the women had a breast implant after their mastectomy for breast cancer.

The study showed that of these women, 12.4% died due to breast cancer during the follow-up period compared with 19.7% of women without an implant.

Researchers say women who underwent breast reconstruction were more likely to be younger and white than women who didn't have breast implants. After adjusting for these factors related to breast cancer survival, researchers found the risk of death in breast cancer patients with breast implants is about half of that without implants.

"Certainly, further research is needed to explain this survival differential in women with breast implants and those without, by examining potentially explanatory factors such as socioeconomic status, [co-existing illnesses], smoking, or other lifestyle factors," write researcher Gem Lee and colleagues of the Northern California Cancer Center in Fremont, Calif., and colleagues.

Researchers say having breast reconstruction may improve the women's self-image and morale, which may help improve their odds of surviving breast cancer. Having breast implants may also make women more likely to receive follow-up medical care that might also have a beneficial effect.

I have another theory - perhaps those who got reconstruction did so because they were in good enough health to withstand the surgery, and good health was already a predictive factor for longer survival. When I was diagnosed, I was told that the issue of reconstruction was a matter of what they expected to find when they opened me up and what they did find - that is, local disease only (2 lymph nodes, but no spread to anything past the sentinal nodes). Since I did not need to rush to chemo (I was told I could wait four to six weeks), I had time to recover from the reconstruction (which takes a lot longer to recover from than a mastectomy alone), and I was healthy enough to withstand 4-6 hours of surgery (compared to the two or three involved with mastectomy alone). I was always told that being fit and in good general health prior to my cancer diagnosis would be a good prognostic factor. But it also is a factor that perhaps points towards the possibility of having reconstruction as well. Get it?

[Lolly]

This is also what I was told; my surgeon and oncologist felt that given my advanced stage (IIIB), that #1: I needed to start treatment asap, and #2: likelyhood of recurrence made it imperative that I put my energy after tx into recovery and enjoying life. Reconstruction is appropriate in most cases, but in mine really wasn't, and I haven't regretted it.

Love, Lolly

[Rozebud]

So...if I have lipo and a tummy tuck and wrinkles removed, that increases my prognosis too :) ?

Hooray! (just kidding for those who know me)

well...i did!! (lipo, that is....) and i am still here to tell about it...so maybe it IS a good idea!

I just wondered about this, I received the article from Web MD Health that has alot of articles about breast cancer...I had reconstruction 1 1/2 years later and have had problems ever since!
Hugs
Sheila

Dear Sheila,
May I ask what sort of problems did you have? I am beginning to think about having reconstruction if I remain healthy three years post diagnosis. I am getting a bit sick of the prostheses as I travel and swim a lot and there is so much paraphenalia involved. But would the risk that things might go wrong be worth the improved spontaneity I might have?!!
Just thinking
Vicki