Role of immediate breast reconstruction in patients with breast cancer requiring post-mastectomy radiation therapy

Aim. A large number of women with breast cancer (BC) under- go mastectomy which continues to be the mainstay of treatment. Immediate breast reconstruction (IBR) is being offered to wo- men at the time of mastectomy according to characteristics and preference of patients, stage of disease and adjuvant therapies. We wanted to evaluate the outcomes of IBR in patients schedu- led for post mastectomy radiation therapy (PMRT). Methods. In a three year period 114 female patients with BC and indications for PMRT (age range 35-76; median age 49) were treated with skin sparing mastectomy with immediate nip- ple and breast reconstruction. The median follow up was 24.2 months. Results. Only 6.14% of patients had local recurrence, and 7.89% of patients had a breast reconstruction failures. There were a 4.8% and a 2.95% respectively of immediate and late complication rate. Aesthetic outcome of procedure was judged as positive (excellent/good) in 85.09% of cases. Conclusion. IBR, when PMRT is required, is supposed not to be the most appropriate treatment for the risk of an inferior aesthetic results and more complications even though most wo- men requires it. However, the demand of IBR is ever increasing as well as surgical reconstructive techniques and adjuvant BC management have improved. Our study showed that IBR in pa- tients who underwent PMRT gave very g