1. Introduction
Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed neoplasm in the female population in the world [
6]. It is the leading cause of cancer related death in women in most countries of the world, except in developed countries, where it ranks second after lung tumors. However, mortality has been steadily declining for over 30 years, with an average 5-year survival of 86% and 75% at 10 years [
7]. This trend is attributed both to the increase in the effectiveness of oncological treatments and to early screening and screening programs.
Breast reconstruction is an important component of breast cancer treatment. With the increase of life expectancy, it has become essential to ensure a good quality of life for patients, forcing a continuous evolution of surgical techniques and their. Breast reconstruction is necessary not only after performing a radical mastectomy, but also after conservative interventions on the breast that have not been accompanied by an optimal aesthetic effect. The need to complete the surgical treatment of breast cancer with breast reconstruction derives from the beneficial impact at the psychological level, respectively at the level body image, of sexuality and general quality of life of patients [
8]. In recent years the ever-increasing number of patients opting for prophylactic mastectomy due to genetic predisposition for developing breast cancer or family history of cancer [
3,
4,
9,
10,
11] has given birth to a new type of integrated treatment plan in oncology.
Although not the focus of this study, breast reconstruction has another extremely important indication in recent years, namely for chest feminization of Male-to-Female Transgender patients. In combination with hormone and psychological therapy breast enhancement is the most common physical modification in this populational subset [
5,
12,
13,
14], contributing to the reduction of the patient’s dysphoria. For this purpose, all surgical reconstructive techniques used in patients with mastectomies can be employed.
This study reviews the main techniques, especially the autologous procedures and investigates available data from the literature indicating their indications and results.
4. Discussion
Breast surgery has rapidly evolved in parallel with oncological treatments, so if in 1970 the safety of reconstruction after a mastectomy was still questioned, today it is indicated for most patients who want it, so today the task of choosing the most appropriate technique for each case is on the shoulders of the surgeon. With all the options available, the surgeon chooses the right technique taking into account his own experience and preference, available resources and factors related to the patient, such as breast size to be reconstructed, skin quality, type of mastectomy indicated, disease stage, adjuvant treatments, surgical history, the general condition of the patient and last but not least her preference.
The contraindications of reconstruction are relatively few, limited to patients with a precarious general condition, which do not allow an elective intervention, as well as cases with a definite unfavorable life prognosis, which do not justify additional interventions. Also, patients with unrealistic expectations about the end result or who do not accept postoperative scars are not good candidates for reconstruction [
81]. Age is no longer considered a contraindication to either the procedure itself or the choice of surgical technique, although, for reasons beyond the general condition and possible associated diseases, techniques involving freely transferred flaps are not usually indicated in patients over 65 years [
43].
Oncological surgery, tumorectomy or mastectomy, as the case may be, contribute significantly to the end result. The decision on whether or not to preserve the mammary gland in early cases is still a matter of debate. A study by Veronesi et al [
82] followed the evolution of 700 women with tumors <2cm for 20 years showed that breast preservation interventions (tumorectomies / lumpectomies) do not change the long-term survival when compared to mastectomies, although the local recurrence rate is higher in the first situation; Morrow and co-workers [
83] also showed that, for stages 0-II, a third of patients end up requiring a mastectomy. The American Society of Breast Surgery has recommended breast preservation whenever possible, and the association with adjuvant oncological treatments such as chemo- and radiotherapy [
84]. However, more recent data from the United States show an increase in the preference for mastectomies, especially prophylactic, in patients with and without BRCA 1/2 mutations [
85].
The long-term benefit of this radical gesture has been demonstrated in cases with the presence of mutations, or in familial cases, in studies such as that performed by Boughey et al [
86], which followed a group of 385 women with a family history and stage I or II tumors, and noting that, after 17 years, survival was significantly improved in patients with bilateral mastectomy, while another study by the same author [
87] shows that bilateral mastectomy increases hospitalization costs and the number of on-call visits in the first 2 years, recommending that these data be explained to patients before making a decision.
Hoskin et al [
88] conducted a study in the USA on 3195 women operated for breast tumors over a period of 5 years, between 2009 and 2014. Of the patients who required mastectomy, the proportion of patients who opted for immediate reconstruction increased by 31%. The percentage of prophylactic bilateral mastectomies with immediate reconstruction increased by 20%, while for the same intervention, but without reconstruction, the percentage decreased by 10%, from 22 to 12%.
Complications after intervention are not significantly different between tumoral and healthy breasts, but in the case of bilateral procedures, the complication rate increases significantly compared to unilateral ones, from 6.3% to 10.6%, according to some authors [
89], respectively from 4.2% at 7.6%, according to other studies [
90], this aspect being one of the main criticisms brought to this trend.
Statistics on the incidence of breast cancer in Romania are limited. The existence of a national patient record that would include, among other things, the stage at the time of diagnosis, would contribute to the understanding of epidemiology and would facilitate a unified, multidisciplinary approach and faster access of patients to treatments. From the experience of oncological surgery centers, many patients with breast cancer who present for treatment are detected in advanced stages locally, with larger tumors and often with clinically or radiological lymph node involvement. This situation significantly changes the surgical indications and, implicitly, the reconstructive options. Although surgical excision is sometimes possible primarily through the radical mastectomy technique, patients usually receive neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Given the stage of the disease, reconstruction in such cases is most often delayed until the completion of oncological treatments [
91]. However, the evolution in the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer has led to the development of oncoplastic surgery that allows not only the preservation of the breast, but also to obtain better aesthetic results in oncological safety conditions [
92].
A number of studies have evaluated the safety of immediate breast reconstruction in neoadjuvant-treated patients with favorable results. A meta-analysis conducted in 2020 by Varghese et al [
93], evaluates 17 observational studies, comprising of 3429 cases and reveals that it does not increase the risks of perioperative complications such as hematoma, seroma or difficult wound healing and does not delay adjuvant treatment. The study, instead, showed a lower rate of complications in younger patients, as well as a higher complications rate in patients who smoke or have a high body mass index. Also, patients with large breasts (> 600g) had a higher complication rate. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy slightly increases the risk of complications related to implant or expander and insignificant risks related to autologous procedures, the same authors note.
The effect of adjuvant chemotherapy on the results of reconstruction is difficult to estimate, as most patients also benefit from radiation therapy during treatment. One study showed a relative risk of liponecrosis of 4.8 in cases where immediate reconstruction with free flap was performed [
94].
Radiation therapy, with its increasingly varied indications in the context of breast cancer, significantly changes postoperative outcomes. The impact on the complications of reconstruction is significantly increased in the case of alloplastic procedures, better results being observed in autologous reconstructions. El-Sabawi and colleagues [
95] performed a systematic analysis on radiotherapy-treated patients in which they observed that those with autologous reconstruction had a lower rate of postoperative complications (30.9% vs. 41.3%) with the prevalence of complications related to wound healing, hematomas, and seromas, while infections and reinterventions prevailed in cases where the implant was used. The failure of the intervention occurred in 16.8% for alloplastic procedures and only 1.6% for autologous ones. When radiotherapy was performed on the temporary device, the complication rate was higher than when it was performed on the permanent implant (18.8% and 14.4% respectively).
Among the autologous procedures, the latissimus dorsi myocutaneous flap has long been the basic choice for reconstruction, associated or not with an implant. Almost any patient can benefit from this technique due to the reliability and versatility of this flap. The main controversies are related to the transferred volume, the aesthetic result and the secondary functional deficit of the shoulder and arm.
As early as 1986, Russel and colleagues [
96] observed that although there is a decrease in scapular girdle muscle function immediately postoperatively and this effect may be more evident in athletic or elderly patients, this deficit does not have a significant impact on daily activities - except in athletes, skiers, swimmers, climbers - and fades in about 6 months due to the development of synergistic musculature. In a 2015 study, Yang and colleagues [
97] showed that at 3 months, muscle strength was comparable to preoperative levels, but the limitation of activity and patients' perception remained altered until about 1 year after surgery.
Regarding the aesthetic result of the reconstruction, Lindegren and collaborators [
98] conducted a study on 70 irradiated patients who benefited from secondary autologous reconstruction. The study compared the perception of patients and surgeons on the results after latissimus dorsi flap or DIEP. Surgeons preferred results after DIEP, because of the natural shape and volume of the breast, however, patients were more satisfied with the results of the latissimus dorsi flap, an unexpected result by the authors, probably correlated with the higher satisfaction in the latter case regarding the scar of the donor area. Another study had the opposite results, on a larger group of patients, but a small percentage of irradiated patients [
99].
The appropriate volume for larger breasts can be recreated either by a combination with the implant or by serial lipofilling sessions or changing the skin palette to include more subcutaneous adipose tissue [
100].