Positive Psychological Effects

Breast Cancer Morbidity: Questionnaire Survey of Patients on the Long Term Effects of Disease and Adjuvant Therapy by Stefan Feiten, Dr. med. Jan Dünnebacke, Dr. med. Jochen Heymanns, Prof. Dr. med. Hubert Köppler, Dr. med. Jörg Thomalla, Dr. med. Christoph van Roye, Diana Wey, Prof. Dr. med. Rudolf Weide in issue 31–32/2014

Recording and evaluating morbidity after combined breast cancer therapy using surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy is crucial and important in order to develop an adequate and differentiated treatment strategy for affected women. Mastectomy alone without breast reconstruction has—as was shown in the study and is widely known from the literature—a negative physical (dysbalances) and primarily psychological effect on patients. On the basis of our clinical practice, however, we think that the authors’ recommendation to use breast conserving surgery whenever it can be medically justified actually falls short. Techniques of breast reconstruction by using implants in patients who have not had radiotherapy and by free microsurgical tissue transfer allows a reconstruction of “femininity,” with corresponding positive psychological effect. In our opinion, of the total cohort of patients in the study, the subgroup of patients who had breast reconstructions should be analyzed separately and added accordingly.

DOI: 10.3238/arztebl.2015.0175a

PD Dr. med. Vincenzo Penna

PD Dr. med. Nestor Torio-Padron

Prof. Dr. med. G. Björn Stark

Klinik für Plastische und Handchirurgie

Universitätsklinikum Freiburg

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that no conflict of interest exists.

References

1. Feiten S, Dünnebacke J, Heymanns J, et al.: Breast cancer morbidity—questionnaire survey of patients on the long term effects of disease and adjuvant therapy. Dtsch Arztebl Int 2014; 111: 537–44.