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Galić et al. [33] have shown that compression based on edge-enhancing anisotropic diffusion (EED) can outperform the quality of JPEG for medium to high compression ratios when the interpolation points are chosen as vertices of an adaptive triangulation. However, the reasons for the good performance of EED remained unclear, and they could not outperform the more advanced JPEG 2000. The goals of the present paper are threefold: Firstly, we investigate the compression qualities of various partial differential equations. This sheds light on the favourable properties of EED in the context of image compression. Secondly, we demonstrate that it is even possible to beat the quality of JPEG 2000 with EED if one uses specific subdivisions on rectangles and several important optimisations. These amendments include improved entropy coding, brightness and diffusivity optimisation, and interpolation swapping. Thirdly, we demonstrate how to extend our approach to 3-D and shape data. Experiments on classical test images and 3-D medical data illustrate the high potential of our approach.

Purpose Bilateral risk-reducing mastectomy (BRRM) can reduce the risk of developing breast cancer by up to 95% in women with increased exposure. Although survival is increased, mastectomies can adversely affect a patient physically, psychologically, and psychosexually. High health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is often achieved after simultaneous breast reconstruction (BR) following BRRM; however, data on the pre- and postoperative results of HRQoL are lacking. Therefore, we investigated the quality of life, esthetic outcome, and patient well-being after BRRM and simultaneous implant-based BR. Patients and Methods Of the 35 patients who underwent skin-sparing or nipple-sparing mastectomy between May 2012 and December 2017 at a university hospital, only 22 completed the evaluation. Baseline data and data on previous operations and operation techniques were retrieved from the patient’s charts. BREAST-Q and short form-36 health survey (SF-36) questionnaires were used to evaluate patient satisfaction and HRQoL. Results SF-36 analysis showed a significantly higher score for pain (p=0.043) in our population than in the general female population. Comparing the pre- and postoperative BREAST-Q results, a significant decrease in the physical well-being of the chest (p=0.0179) and a slight improvement in breast satisfaction were observed (p=0.3266). All patients were well-satisfied with the postoperative outcome, reconstruction, and perioperative surgeon care. Conclusion Bilateral mastectomy with simultaneous BR using pre-pectoral implants is associated with an HRQoL similar to that of the healthy population. Although bilateral mastectomy may have an immense effect on the psychological, physical, and social aspects, immediate BR preserves the outer appearance and improves self-esteem.

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