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Increased Postoperative Complications in Bilateral Mastectomy Patients Compared to Unilateral Mastectomy: An Analysis of the NSQIP Database

  • Breast Oncology
  • Published:
Annals of Surgical Oncology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Background

Recent studies indicate that women with unilateral breast cancer are choosing contralateral prophylactic mastectomy (CPM) at an increasing rate. There is limited literature evaluating the postoperative complication rates associated with CPM without breast reconstruction. The objective of this study was to compare postoperative complications in women undergoing unilateral mastectomy (UM) and sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) to those undergoing bilateral mastectomy (BM) and SLNB for the treatment of their breast cancer.

Methods

The American College of Surgeons National Surgery Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP) Participant Use Files between 2007 and 2010 were used to identify women with breast cancer undergoing UM or BM with SLNB. Individual and composite end points of 30-day complications were used to compare both groups by univariate and multivariate analyses.

Results

We identified 4,219 breast cancer patients who had a SLNB: 3,722 (88.2 %) had UM and 497 (11.8 %) had BM. The wound complication rate was significantly higher in the BM group versus the UM group, 5.8 % versus 2.9 % [unadjusted odds ratio (OR) 2.1, 95 % confidence interval (CI) 1.3–3.3, P < 0.01]. The overall 30-day complication rate in UM patients was 4.2 % versus 7.6 % in the BM group (unadjusted OR 1.9, 95 % CI 1.3–2.7, P < 0.01). The adjusted OR for overall complications adjusting for important patient characteristics was 1.9 (95 % CI 1.3–2.8, P < 0.01). Independent predictors of overall postoperative complications were body mass index (OR 1.1, P < 0.01) and smoking (OR 2.2, P < 0.01).

Conclusions

For patients with breast cancer, bilateral mastectomy is associated with an increased risk of wound and overall postoperative complications. Discussion of these outcomes is imperative when counseling women contemplating CPM.

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Disclosures

Drs. Osman, Saleh, Jackson, Corrigan and Cil have no financial affiliations to disclose. No external sources of funding were used for this study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Fahima Osman MD, FRCSC, Timothy D. Jackson MD, MPH, FRCSC & Tulin Cil MD, MEd, FRCSC

  2. Division of General Surgery, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Fady Saleh MD, MPH, FRCSC, Timothy D. Jackson MD, MPH, FRCSC & Tulin Cil MD, MEd, FRCSC

  3. University College Cork, Cork, Ireland

    Mark A. Corrigan MB, BAO, BCh, BMedSci

  4. Department of Surgery, Women’s College Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Tulin Cil MD, MEd, FRCSC

Authors
  1. Fahima Osman MD, FRCSC
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  2. Fady Saleh MD, MPH, FRCSC
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  3. Timothy D. Jackson MD, MPH, FRCSC
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  4. Mark A. Corrigan MB, BAO, BCh, BMedSci
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  5. Tulin Cil MD, MEd, FRCSC
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tulin Cil MD, MEd, FRCSC.

Additional information

Disclaimer: American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program and the hospitals participating in the NSQIP are the source of the data used herein; they have not verified and are not responsible for the statistical validity of the data analysis or the conclusions derived by the authors.

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Osman, F., Saleh, F., Jackson, T.D. et al. Increased Postoperative Complications in Bilateral Mastectomy Patients Compared to Unilateral Mastectomy: An Analysis of the NSQIP Database. Ann Surg Oncol 20, 3212–3217 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1245/s10434-013-3116-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1245/s10434-013-3116-1

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