Quality of life among breast cancer patients undergoing autologous breast reconstruction versus breast conserving therapy

Abstract

Our study demonstrated that autologous tissue breast reconstruction in breast cancer patients did not affect adversely the health-related quality of life compared to breast conserving therapy when the quality of life is assessed by the standardized questionnaire SF-36. In particular, the physical function is not reported to be significantly influenced negatively by the more extensive surgical therapy.

Manual for guided home exercises for osteoarthritis of the knee

“…Findings from some previous studies are in agreement with the present results 2,12,15,36. Other studies, however, have identified differences in QOL in breast cancer survivors as a function of the type of surgical procedure 16,19,22,23,37. Dian et al19 investigated QOL using the SF-36 questionnaire and reported better scores in physical functioning in women submitted to breast reconstruction compared with those submitted to conservative surgery.…”

“…Previous studies that investigated these parameters reported conflicting results, and the majority of these studies were conducted in developed countries. 3,5,12,17,19,29 The present study reports findings in a cohort of Brazilian breast cancer survivors.…”

“…The SF-36 had already been translated into Brazilian Portuguese and validated 21. This instrument was previously used in other studies carried out in breast cancer survivors 19,22,23. It is a multidimensional questionnaire with eight components: physical functioning, physical role functioning, bodily pain, general health perceptions, vitality, social role functioning, emotional role functioning and mental health.…”

“…Investigators have studied the association between the type of breast surgery and the patient's QOL; however, the results have been contradictory 2,3,16,19. Few studies have compared shoulder-arm morbidity, satisfaction with surgery and the QOL of breast cancer survivors submitted to different forms of surgical therapy.…”

Quality of life over 5 years in women with breast cancer after breast-conserving therapy versus mastectomy: a population-based study

“…Breast-conserving therapy included primary breast-conserving surgery as well as breast reconstruction as these two techniques have been reported to yield comparable results with respect to QOL (Cocquyt et al 2003;Dian et al 2007;Nano et al 2005).…”