Study: Complications Few From Radiation After Breast Reconstruction

A new study shows that breast cancer patients who have had a mastectomy experience fewer complications than expected when they have breast reconstruction prior to radiation.

"Prior studies have shown a high rate of complications among breast cancer patients who undergo reconstruction and then post-mastectomy radiation therapy," said Dr. Penny R. Anderson of Fox Chase Cancer Center.

"Anecdotally speaking, we weren't seeing major complications regularly at Fox Chase, and that observation became the impetus for this study," Anderson said.

To explore the issue, researchers evaluated the records of 85 breast cancer patients who had radical mastectomy and breast reconstruction. Seventy had radiotherapy after the reconstructiive surgery and 15 of them prior to reconstructive surgery.

The median time from reconstruction to radiation therapy was seven months.

Only five per cent of the women suffered a major complication requiring corrective surgery or loss of the breast reconstruction, and all were all women who had a breast implant as part of the reconstruction, Anderson reported at a meeting of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology.

"What's interesting about this reported complication rate for breast implants is that not only is it low compared to other studies involving radiation after reconstruction, it is also low when considering the rate of major complications following reconstruction when radiation is not a factor," Anderson said.

Other Sources: American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology