Breast op - 1 in 3 unhappy

Last updated: Monday, October 09, 2006 Print

About one-third of all women who have a lumpectomy as part of their breast cancer treatment are unhappy with how their breasts look, a new survey says.

A lumpectomy is a procedure usually performed in concert with radiation when malignant breast tumours are detected at an early stage, and doctors don't believe it's necessary to perform the much more radical mastectomy, which involves removal of most of the breast tissue.

The survey, presented at the annual American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) Plastic Surgery 2006 conference in San Francisco, said that many of those unhappy with the outcome of a lumpectomy would consider reconstructive breast surgery.

According to an ASPS news release, of the 28 percent of the patients who said they were unhappy with how the lumpectomy made their breasts look, 46 percent said their physical appearance was worse or much worse after the surgery and were considering reconstruction. By contrast, only nine percent of patients who were satisfied with the outcome would consider reconstruction.

"Patients should know their options and understand that just because they undergo a lumpectomy to save their breast does not mean they will be happy with the cosmetic outcome," said Dr Howard Wang, co-author of the study, in the news release. – (HealthDayNews)