Long-term patient-reported satisfaction after contralateral prophylactic mastectomy and implant reconstruction

To determine whether satisfaction and health-related quality of life (HR-QoL) differ between women who do and do not undergo contralateral prophylactic mastectomy (CPM) in the setting of implant reconstruction using the BREAST-Q, a validated patient-reported outcome instrument.

From 2000 to 2007, a total of 3,874 patients with stage 0 to III unilateral breast cancer (BC) had mastectomy; 688 (18 %) pursued CPM within 1 year. Patients who completed the BREAST-Q reconstruction module as part of BREAST-Q validation studies or routine clinical care formed our study cohort. Comparisons were made between CPM and no-CPM patients using univariate analysis and multivariate models (MVA).

Of 294 patients with BREAST-Q data, 112 (38 %) had CPM. Median time from mastectomy to BREAST-Q was 52 months. CPM patients were younger (mean 47 vs. 50 years), more likely to be White (98 vs. 86 %), married (84 vs. 71 %), have a family history of BC (60 vs. 44 %), and to choose silicone implants (67 vs. 48 %). There were no differences in tumor or treatment characteristics between groups at the time of BREAST-Q. Patients with CPM had a higher mean score for Satisfaction with Breasts (64.4 vs. 54.9; p < 0.001) and Satisfaction with Outcome (74.8 vs. 67.7; p = 0.007); other HR-QoL domains did not differ. On MVA, CPM and the absence of lymphedema were significant predictors of Satisfaction with Breasts (CPM p = 0.005, lymphedema p = 0.039). CPM was not associated with improved Satisfaction with Outcome.

This study suggests that in the setting of implant reconstruction, CPM has a positive correlation with patient satisfaction with their breasts, but not with improvements in other HR-QoL domains.