Breast cancer patient-reported outcomes on level 1 and level 2 oncoplastic procedures using BREAST-Q^®

In breast cancer management not only mortality and surgical morbidity measurements are important but also patient satisfaction indexes. The authors evaluated the satisfaction and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) using the breast-conserving therapy (BCT) and breast reduction (BR) modules of BREAST-Q^®.

This is a cross-sectional study that analyzed breast cancer patients consecutively submitted to breast surgery between January 2011 and April 2018 using two modules of BREAST-Q^®. 968 patients were contacted and 232 answers were gathered: 171 patients submitted to oncoplastic level 1 surgery answered the BCT module and 61 submitted to oncoplastic level 2 surgery answered the BR module. Clinical data were retrieved from patients' medical records.

Among the 232 questionnaires received, the median scores for psychosocial well-being, sexual well-being and (postoperative) satisfaction with breasts for BCT and BR modules were, respectively, 77.0 and 73.5 (p = 0.17); 62.0 and 53.0 (p = 0.14); 72.0 and 66.0 (p = 0.66). The median of adverse effects of radiation in the BCT module was 87.0. The median satisfaction with outcome in the BR module was 86.0. Both groups of patients revealed high scores of satisfaction with care. For the BCT patients, satisfaction with breasts strongly correlated with sexual well-being and was moderately correlated with psychosocial and physical well-being. For the BR patients, the satisfaction with outcome strongly correlated with satisfaction with medical team and moderately correlated with the remaining scales.

Both oncoplastic surgery levels yielded similar satisfaction outcomes when assessed using BCT and BR modules of BREAST-Q^®.