The Impact of Race on Choice of Post-Mastectomy Reconstruction: Is There a Healthcare Disparity?

INTRODUCTION: Although the Institute of Medicine has declared equity to be one of the six key domains of health care quality1, racial disparities continue to be a well-documented problem afflicting contemporary American healthcare.2 Since breasts represent a symbol of femininity for many women, breast reconstruction is critical to mitigating the psychosocial and cultural stigma of a catastrophic breast cancer diagnosis. However, whether different races have equitable access to breast reconstruction, after accounting for other pertinent clinicopathologic variables, remains unknown.