Breast conservation and oncoplastic surgery are associated with improved quality of life.

Abstract

Introduction: Local treatment can be distressful to breast cancer patients. We aimed to evaluate how different types of local treatment impact the quality of life of patients.

Methods: In this retrospective cohort study, one-year postoperative Breast-Q Satisfaction with Breasts scores were used as a surrogate for Quality of Life. Linear regression was used to estimate the impact of breast conservation, oncoplastic surgery, breast reconstruction, and radiation therapy on Breast-Q scores. All analyses were adjusted for multiple covariates.

Results: Of the 711 eligible patients, 349 female patients answered both the pre- and one-year postoperative questionnaires and were included in the final analysis. In total, 237 (68%) patients underwent breast-conserving surgeries and 112 (32%) underwent mastectomies. All mastectomy patients underwent breast reconstruction and 176 (74% of breast-conserving surgeries) underwent concomitant oncoplastic surgery. After multivariate analysis, mastectomy was associated with lower scores compared to breast-conserving surgery (-21.3; 95%CI: -36.2, -6.4, p=0.005), and oncoplastic surgery was associated with higher scores (9.2; 95%CI: 0.8, 17.6, p=0.032). There was a tendency for higher scores with the use of flaps in breast reconstruction and a tendency for lower scores with the use of radiation therapy, but the difference was not significant.

Conclusions: Breast-conserving surgery is associated with better quality of life than mastectomy. Additionally, oncoplastic surgery is associated with a better quality of life than standard breast-conserving surgery. Patients should be counseled whenever multiple options for surgery are possible, and efforts should be made to increase the availability of trained surgeons in oncoplastic techniques.