Longitudinal Study of Psychosocial Outcomes Following Surgery in Women with Unilateral Nonhereditary Breast Cancer

Differences in Preoperative Health-Related Quality of Life between Women Receiving Mastectomy or Breast Conserving Surgery in a Prospectively Recruited Cohort of Breast Cancer Patients

“…Many studies have shown the psychosocial benefits to having immediate breast reconstruction with mastectomy [5,33] however, this study's finding of increased depression and anxiety in patients having immediate reconstruction compared to mastectomy alone is in contrast to this. Patients having reconstruction were younger than those not having reconstruction, which may explain the worse mental health symptoms in this group as our regression analysis suggests preoperative depression and anxiety may be more closely related to age than procedure type.…”

“…Studies investigating contralateral prophylactic mastectomy have compared preoperative and postoperative PROMs. Lim et al, using the Breast-Q, found that when comparing patients receiving BCS to unilateral and bilateral mastectomy, there was no difference in preoperative breast satisfaction, psychosocial well-being, but a difference in both physical and sexual well-being [33]. Parker found that patients having contralateral prophylactic mastectomy for unilateral breast cancer had increased preoperative worry, distress, and body image concerns compared to patients not having a contralateral prophylactic mastectomy.…”

Long-term Quality of Life in Patients With Breast Cancer After Breast Conservation vs Mastectomy and Reconstruction

“…Rosenberg et al 26 conducted a prospective, multicenter study of 826 patients aged 40 years or younger and found that those who underwent mastectomy experienced worse body image and sexuality that persisted for 5 years. Lim and colleagues 27 prospectively evaluated 475 patients with unilateral breast cancer and reported that patients who underwent breast-conserving surgery experienced better satisfaction with breasts and psychosocial well-being than did those who underwent mastectomy. In addition, Pesce et al 28 prospectively studied 203 women, reporting that treatment with breast-conserving surgery was associated with improved satisfaction with breasts and psychosocial well-being compared with bilateral mastectomy through 15 months.…”

Unveiling beauty: Insight into being tattooed postmastectomy

“…Experiences of women following a mastectomy have been studied extensively, capturing both short and long‐term effects. Many of the outcomes are psychosocial in nature and include decreased quality of life, 7 concerns about body image such as being self‐conscious about scaring, 8 sexual well‐being, 9 depression, 10 struggles with identity, and being stigmatized 11,12 . Physical symptoms have also been reported such as women experiencing diminished sensations 13,14 and challenges with upper arm mobility on the affected side(s) 14,15 …”