Objective: To better understand the long-term patient-reported outcomes (PROs) in satisfaction and health-related quality of life (QOL) following post-mastectomy reconstruction (PMR) using the BREAST-Q, comparing PROs from patients undergoing implant-based breast reconstruction (IBR) or autologous breast reconstruction (ABR). Summary of Background Data: Multiple studies have demonstrated growth in mastectomy rates and concurrent increase in PMR utilization. However, most studies examining PMR PROs focus on short postoperative time periods—mainly within 2 years. Methods: BREAST-Q scores from IBR or ABR patients at a tertiary center were prospectively collected from 2009 to 2017. Mean scores and standard deviations (SDs) were calculated for satisfaction with breast, satisfaction with outcome, psychosocial well-being, physical well-being of the chest, and sexual well-being. Satisfaction with breasts and physical well-being of the chest were compared using regression models at postoperative years 1, 3, 5, and 7. Results: Overall, 3268 patients were included, with 336 undergoing ABR and 2932 undergoing IBR. Regression analysis demonstrated that ABR patients had greater postoperative satisfaction with breast scores at all timepoints compared with IBR patients. Postoperative radiation and mental illness adversely impacted satisfaction with breast scores. Furthermore, mental illness impacted physical wellbeing of the chest at all timepoints. IBR patients had satisfaction scores that remained stable over the study period. Conclusion: This study presents the largest prospective examination of PROs in PMR to date. Patients who opted for ABR had significantly higher satisfaction with their breast and QOL at each assessed time point, but IBR patients had stable long-term satisfaction and QOL postoperatively.

Objective: This study sought to estimate the incidence and incidence rate of breast implant-associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma (BIA-ALCL) at a high-volume single institution, which enables vigorous long-term follow-up and implant tracking for more accurate estimates. Summary Background Data: The reported incidence of BIA-ALCL is highly variable, ranging from 1 in 355 to 1 in 30,000 patients, demonstrating a need for more accurate estimates. Methods: All patients who underwent implant-based breast reconstruction from 1991 to 2017 were retrospectively identified. The incidence and incidence rate of BIA-ALCL were estimated per patient and per implant. A time-to-event analysis was performed using the Kaplan–Meier estimator and life table. Results: During the 26-year study period, 9373 patients underwent reconstruction with 16,065 implants, of which 9589 (59.7%) were textured. Eleven patients were diagnosed with BIA-ALCL, all of whom had a history of textured implants. The overall incidence of BIA-ALCL was 1.79 per 1000 patients (1 in 559) with textured implants and 1.15 per 1000 textured implants (1 in 871), with a median time to diagnosis of 10.3 years (range, 6.4–15.5 yrs). Time-to-event analysis demonstrated a BIA-ALCL cumulative incidence of 0 at up to 6 years, increasing to 4.4 per 1000 patients at 10 to 12 years and 9.4 per 1000 patients at 14 to 16 years, although a sensitivity analysis showed loss to follow-up may have skewed these estimates. Conclusions: BIA-ALCL incidence and incidence rates may be higher than previous epidemiological estimates, with incidence increasing over time, particularly in patients exposed to textured implants for longer than 10 years.

Background: Prepectoral placement of tissue expanders for two-stage implant-based breast reconstruction potentially minimizes chest wall morbidity and postoperative pain. The authors explored 90-day clinical and health-related quality-of-life outcomes for prepectoral versus subpectoral tissue expander breast reconstruction. Methods: The authors conducted a propensity score-matching analysis (nearest neighbor, 1:1 matching without replacement) of patients who underwent immediate prepectoral or subpectoral tissue expander breast reconstruction between December of 2017 and January of 2019. Matched covariates included age, body mass index, race/ethnicity, smoking status, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, nipple-sparing mastectomy, and laterality of reconstruction. Outcomes of interest were perioperative analgesia use, 90-day postoperative patient-reported pain, complication rates, and BREAST-Q physical well-being of the chest scores. Results: Of the initial cohort of 921 patients, 238 were propensity-matched and included in the final analysis. The matched cohort had no differences in baseline characteristics. Postoperative ketorolac (p = 0.048) use was higher in the subpectoral group; there were no other significant differences in intraoperative and postoperative analgesia use. Prepectoral patients had lower pain on postoperative days 1 to 2 but no differences on days 3 to 10. BREAST-Q physical well-being of the chest scores did not differ. Prepectoral patients had higher rates of seroma than subpectoral patients (p < 0.001). Rates of tissue expander loss did not differ. Conclusions: This matched analysis of 90-day complications found lower early postoperative pain in prepectoral tissue expander patients but no longer-term patient-reported differences. Although prepectoral reconstruction patients experienced a higher rate of seroma, this did not translate to a difference in tissue expander loss. Long-term analysis of clinical and patient-reported outcomes is needed to understand the full profile of the prepectoral technique. CLINICAL QUESTION/LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic, III.