MONDAY, Sept. 20 (HealthDay News) -- In breast cancer patients who undergo immediate breast reconstruction (IBR), post-mastectomy irradiation (PMRT) is linked to surgical complications and implant loss, but the risk of noninfectious postoperative complications isn't higher after mastectomy and IBR in women who receive chemotherapy, according to two studies published in the September issue of the Archives of Surgery.
Dara Christante, M.D., of the Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, and colleagues analyzed data from 302 mastectomy patients. Complications were more likely in those who underwent IBR compared to those who didn't (44 versus 7 percent). PMRT was independently associated with complications (odds ratio, 3.3). Thirty-one percent of patients who had PMRT underwent implant removal compared to 6 percent of women who did not have PMRT.
Anne Warren Peled, M.D., of the University of California in San Francisco, and colleagues analyzed data from 163 patients who had a mastectomy and IBR. Forty-four percent in the adjuvant chemotherapy group had postoperative infections, versus 23 percent in the neoadjuvant chemotherapy group and 25 percent who didn't receive chemotherapy. However, the groups had similar rates of unplanned return to the operating room, expander loss, and donor-site complications.
"Neither the inclusion of chemotherapy nor the timing of its administration significantly affected the complication rates after mastectomy and IBR in this population," Peled and colleagues conclude.
Abstract - Christante
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Abstract - Peled
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