Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 21, 2026

Endoscopic Bilateral Nipple-sparing Mastectomy via a Single Axillary Incision with Immediate Pre-pectoral Implant-based Breast Reconstruction
Published on: May 17, 2024
Breast reconstruction in France, observational study of 140,904 cases of mastectomy for breast cancer
1Department of plastic reconstructive and aesthetic surgery, Amiens University Hospital, 80080 Amiens, France; Department of plastic reconstructive and aesthetic surgery, Saint-Quentin Hospital, 02321 Saint-Quentin, France.
Objectives:
In France, there are few up-to-date epidemiological data on breast reconstruction after mastectomy for breast cancer. The objective of the present study was to measure immediate and delayed breast reconstruction (IBR and DBR, respectively) rates and thus the proportion of patients not benefiting from any reconstruction.
Methods:
We performed an observational study by assessing data from the French nationwide discharge summary database (Programme de Médicalisation des Systèmes d'Information) for the period 2008-2014. All women having undergone a total mastectomy for breast cancer during this period were included. We then searched for reconstructive surgery during the initial or subsequent hospital stays, and recorded the time interval between mastectomy and reconstruction.
Results:
Among the 140,904 mastectomies included, the IBR rate was 16.1% on average, and increased over the study period. The time interval between mastectomy and DBR was≤3 years in 92% of cases. For patients included in 2008 and 2009, the DBR rate was 17.8%, and the non-reconstruction rate was 66.4%.
Conclusion:
The high proportion of women not undergoing breast reconstruction after mastectomy suggests that access to this procedure should be improved.
Related Concept Videos
Observational Studies
There are three types of observational studies – Prospective, retrospective, and cross-sectional.
Prospective Study
Prospective studies, also known as longitudinal or cohort studies, are carried out by collecting future data from groups sharing similar characteristics. One...
Naturalistic Observations
Mouse Models of Cancer Study
The development of transgenic, knockout, and knock-in mice has led to an exponential increase in their use as model organisms in research,...
Actor-Observer Effect
Observational Learning
Data Collection by Observations
An astronomer viewing the motion and brightness of stars in the sky and recording the data is an example of observational data collection. A botanist recording...

