Does oncoplastic breast-conserving surgery cause unnecessary additional evaluations?

Patients who have undergone breast-conserving surgery may experience fear of recurrence. Post-operative granulation tissue and fat necrosis are common issues for these patients. As a result, additional examinations may increase, which can entail increased costs and stress for patients. In this study, if oncoplastic breast-conserving surgery causes additional imaging and unnecessary additional evaluations.

We retrospectively analyzed data from 432 patients who had undergone breast-conserving surgery in the same surgical unit between 2013 and 2017. We separated the patients into two main groups: Group 1 were those operated with conservative breast-conserving surgery, while Group 2 had operations using oncoplastic breast-conserving surgery techniques. The two groups were compared in terms of post-operative radiological examinations, suspected radiological findings, and biopsy needs.

There were 203 patients in Group 1 and 229 in Group 2. The median follow-up time was 66 months (range 12-109). Additional mammography use was higher in the second group (p=0.003). However, the two groups had no statistical differences for additional imaging and biopsy needs in general (p=0.138). Sixty-two patients (14.3%) had biopsies with suspicious radiological findings (15.8% vs. 13.1%). Eight (12.8%) of these patients had malignant results. There were local recurrences in six patients, one in the first group and five in the second group (p=0.084).

Oncoplastic breast-conserving surgery may increase post-operative mammography use. However, there is no statistical difference between the two groups for either additional imaging in total or in biopsy needs.