Long-Term Quality of Life (BREAST-Q) in Patients with Mastectomy and Breast Reconstruction

Abstract

(1) Background: Mastectomy is the surgical treatment of choice in 20–30% of women with breast cancer. In addition, more women are undergoing risk-reducing mastectomies. It is necessary to study these women’s quality of life and satisfaction after surgery, as studies report high percentages of dissatisfaction with the results. The publication of the BREAST-Q© questionnaire in 2009 provided a valuable tool to measure these results. (2) Methods: Descriptive, cross-sectional study of 70 patients who underwent mastectomy and breast reconstruction, both therapeutic and prophylactic, in the last 10 years to whom the BREAST-Q© 2.0-Reconstruction Module questionnaire was provided for completion. (3) Results: The sexual satisfaction scale was the lowest score of the entire questionnaire (51.84 ± 21.13), while the highest score was obtained on the satisfaction with the surgeon scale (91.86 ± 18.11). The satisfaction with care scales showed the importance of the evaluation of these items for future studies. More than half of the patients of the study (51.5%) underwent at least one reoperation after the first surgery, with an average of one (1.15) intervention per patient and a maximum of five. (4) Conclusions: Mastectomy and breast reconstruction have a high negative impact on the sexual well-being of patients. The high percentage of reoperations is a factor to consider because of its possible influence on these patients’ quality of life and satisfaction.

Long-Term Patient Satisfaction and Quality of Life Following Breast Reconstruction Using the BREAST-Q: A Prospective Cohort Study

“…The main limitation was the response rates of 68.8% at 1 year and 63.9% at 5 years. However, these rates are similar to those in previous reports ( 71 – 73 ). Patients were followed for up to 5 years, but with such a long study period some could not be contacted or may have died, and were lost to follow up.…”

Patient Self-reported Breast Cup Size and Resultant Mastectomy Specimen Weight: Implications for Reconstructive Breast Surgery

“…The current body of literature heavily revolves around patient postoperative satisfaction that focuses on quality of life and breast appearance rather than solely breast size. 14–18…”

Psychosocial and sexual well‐being in breast cancer survivors undergoing immediate breast reconstruction: The mediating role of breast satisfaction

“…This research aimed to assess the levels of psychosocial, physical, sexual well‐being and breast satisfaction of women who underwent IR, to verify the existing relationships between them, to verify possible differences in their evaluations due to the reason for the surgery and the technique used, as well as to verify the possible explanatory and predictive capacity of psychosocial well‐being on breast satisfaction, and of both on sexual well‐being, exploring the process by which this influence is produced, controlling the effect of physical well‐being. Although there is an increasing number of studies focused on assessing the quality of life of cancer survivors (García‐Solbas et al, 2021 ; Liu et al, 2018 ), this is the first study to assess the mechanism through which breast satisfaction after an IR influences the quality of life and specifically the relationship between psychological and sexual well‐being.…”

“…The 5‐year net survival rate for women was 86% (de Munck et al, 2018 ; SEOM, 2020 ). In this sense, the interest in understanding and mitigating the impact of the diagnosis and treatments administered on the quality of life of women with breast cancer is growing and is becoming a priority (García‐Solbas et al, 2021 ; Liu et al, 2018 ).…”

“…Due to the increasing number of breast cancer survivors, as well as the psychological impact caused by mastectomy, breast reconstruction has been proposed as a necessary part of the overall treatment of patients to preserve their quality of life (García‐Solbas et al, 2021 ). In this regard, the demand for reconstructive breast surgery has increased considerably in recent years, encouraging the development of new oncoplastic and reconstructive techniques (Pirro et al, 2017 ).…”