Déjà vu All Over Again? Although a substantial number of women will suffer and die from breast cancer during the upcoming years, we clearly have made stepwise progress in treating patients with this cancer over the last 3 decades. Each of these steps of progress has led to what are glibly designated “paradigm shifts.” Perhaps the most hotly debated of these paradigms is the local vs systemic na...

Background. To promote patient-centered care, it is important to understand the impact of sociodemographic factors on procedure choice for women undergoing postmastectomy breast reconstruction. In this context, we analyzed the effects of these variables on the reconstructive method chosen. Methods. Women undergoing postmastectomy breast reconstruction were recruited for the prospective Mastecto...

BACKGROUND The demand for reconstructive breast procedures of various types has accelerated in recent years. Coupled with increased patient expectations, it has fostered the development of oncoplastic and reconstructive techniques in breast surgery. In the setting of postmastectomy reconstruction, patient satisfaction and quality of life are the most significant outcome variables when evaluatin...

The spectrum of vascular lesions developing in breast or chest wall skin following lumpectomy or mastectomy and radiation is wide and ranges from atypical vascular lesions with a benign clinical behaviour to frankly malignant, angiosarcoma ranging histologically from well to poorly differentiated variety. Postmastectomy-postirradiation atypical vascular lesions (AVLs) are rare and develop in th...

The cycle time and number of chambers in the pneumatic sleeve may influence the outcome of lymphedema therapy with intermittent compression devices. The aim of our study was to assess efficacy of several commonly used different IPC protocols on edema volume reduction in women with postmastectomy lymphedema. Fixty-seven (57) women with secondary arm lymphedema (age 39-80) were selected to the st...

Background Postmastectomy breast reconstruction (PMBR) is an elective, preference-sensitive decision made during a stressful, time-pressured period after a cancer diagnosis. Shared decision making (SDM) can improve decision quality about preference-sensitive choices. Stakeholders' perspectives on ways to support PMBR decision-making were explored. Methods Forty semi-structured interviews with...

BACKGROUND To determine the role of postmastectomy radiotherapy (PMRT) in breast cancer patients with T1-2 and N1 disease. PATIENTS AND METHODS A total of 207 postmastectomy women were enrolled. The 5-year Kaplan-Meier estimates of locoregional recurrence rate (LRR), distant recurrence rate (DRR) and overall survival (OS) were analyzed by different tumor characteristics. Multivariate analyses...