VIDEO: Mastectomy plus reconstruction has highest complication rates of all early BC treatment options

SAN ANTONIO – Mastectomy with reconstruction is the outlier in terms of complication rates and cost among options for local therapy for early breast cancer, according to a large observational study presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

Complication rates during the first 2 years after diagnosis were roughly twice as high for mastectomy plus reconstruction, compared with lumpectomy with whole breast irradiation. Moreover, average total procedural and complication costs were $23,000 greater for women aged 65 years or younger who opted for mastectomy plus reconstruction than for those who chose lumpectomy plus whole breast irradiation. These fresh insights into the trade-offs involved in local treatment options should prove useful in oncologists’ discussions with newly diagnosed patients, as well as for payers, as Dr. Benjamin D. Smith of University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, explains in an interview.

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SAN ANTONIO – Mastectomy with reconstruction is the outlier in terms of complication rates and cost among options for local therapy for early breast cancer, according to a large observational study presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

Complication rates during the first 2 years after diagnosis were roughly twice as high for mastectomy plus reconstruction, compared with lumpectomy with whole breast irradiation. Moreover, average total procedural and complication costs were $23,000 greater for women aged 65 years or younger who opted for mastectomy plus reconstruction than for those who chose lumpectomy plus whole breast irradiation. These fresh insights into the trade-offs involved in local treatment options should prove useful in oncologists’ discussions with newly diagnosed patients, as well as for payers, as Dr. Benjamin D. Smith of University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, explains in an interview.

[email protected]

SAN ANTONIO – Mastectomy with reconstruction is the outlier in terms of complication rates and cost among options for local therapy for early breast cancer, according to a large observational study presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

Complication rates during the first 2 years after diagnosis were roughly twice as high for mastectomy plus reconstruction, compared with lumpectomy with whole breast irradiation. Moreover, average total procedural and complication costs were $23,000 greater for women aged 65 years or younger who opted for mastectomy plus reconstruction than for those who chose lumpectomy plus whole breast irradiation. These fresh insights into the trade-offs involved in local treatment options should prove useful in oncologists’ discussions with newly diagnosed patients, as well as for payers, as Dr. Benjamin D. Smith of University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, explains in an interview.

[email protected]