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Immediate breast reconstruction with implants and adjuvant chemotherapy: a good option?
E Vandeweyer1, R Deraemaecker, J M Nogaret
1Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Bordet Institute, Cancer Center of Brussels Free University, Brussels, Belgium. vandeweyere@skynet.be
Abstract:
Immediate breast reconstruction using implants is a currently practiced intervention. However, it is exposed to the potential adverse effects of adjuvant therapies necessitated for cancer control. Patients with implants, receiving adjuvant chemotherapy, were compared with those not necessitating chemotherapy to evaluate the real impact of this combination of treatment modalities on the final outcome. Cosmetic results were not influenced by the adjunction of chemotherapy, but a higher rate of implant infection was observed in the chemotherapy group (10.7% versus 1.5% p = 0.0084). This observation needs to be kept in mind when selecting patients for immediate breast reconstruction with implants.