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Updated: Jun 27, 2026
Single-Port Robotic-assisted Transaxillary Breast-conserving Surgery: A Prospective, Single-arm, Non-randomized Phase IIa Clinical Trial
Published on: August 19, 2025
Cost-utility of breast reduction surgery--a prospective study
E Tykkä1, P Räsänen, E Tukiainen
1Department of Plastic Surgery, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Helsinki, Finland. erika.tykka@hus.fi
Objective:
To assess the cost-utility of routine breast-reduction surgery in the setting of a large university hospital.
Methods:
In the framework of a large trial exploring the feasibility of routine health-related quality of life (HRQoL) assessment, 80 patients (mean age: 45 years) entering the Department of Plastic Surgery for operative breast reduction filled in the 15-dimension (15D) HRQoL survey before and 6 months after surgery. Data on hospital costs were obtained from the hospital records.
Results:
Mean (+/-SD) HRQoL score (on a 0-1 scale) increased as a result of surgery from the preoperative 0.916+/-0.075 to 0.939+/-0.076 (p<0.001) 6 months after surgery, corresponding to a mean (+/-SD) gain of 0.930+/-2.117 quality-adjusted life years (QALYs). Of the 15 health dimensions, discomfort and symptoms showed the greatest improvement (p<0.001). A statistically significant improvement was also seen on the dimensions of breathing, sleeping and distress. Mean hospital cost of treatment was 3383 euro+/-1744, and the cost per QALY was 3638 euro. Using 5% discounting for QALYs, the cost per QALY increased to 8973 euro.
Conclusion:
Breast-reduction surgery improved HRQoL in a statistically significant manner and at a reasonable cost, as the cost per QALY was in the same range as that observed in our material, for example, for hip-replacement surgery.
