Sexual Well-Being Reduced After Postmastectomy Breast Reconstruction
By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter
THURSDAY, March 6, 2025 -- Patients undergoing postmastectomy breast reconstruction (PMBR) have lower Sexual Well-Being scores than those undergoing breast-conserving therapy (BCT), according to a study published in the March issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.
Carrie S. Stern, M.D., from the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, and colleagues conducted a retrospective analysis involving patients who underwent BCT or PMBR. Participants completed the Sexual Well-Being section of the BREAST-Q BCT and Reconstruction modules from January 2010 through October 2022, and scores were compared for those receiving BCT or PMBR over time up to five years after surgery.
The analyses included 15,857 patients: 53.7 and 46.3 percent underwent BCT and PMBR, respectively. The researchers found that compared with patients who underwent BCT, those who underwent PMBR had significantly lower Sexual Well-Being scores from preoperatively to five years postoperatively. At one year, patients who underwent PMBR scored 7.6 points lower than those who underwent BCT. Factors that were associated with lower Sexual Well-Being scores included separated marital status, higher body mass index, cardiovascular disease, hyperlipidemia, psychiatric diagnosis, and neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Overall, 3.5 and 5.4 percent of those who underwent BCT and PMBR, respectively, received sexual health consultations.
"Only a small fraction of breast cancer patients receives sexual medicine consultations, suggesting an opportunity for practitioners to counsel these patients about sexual health and encourage them to seek sexual health interventions," the authors write.
Several authors disclosed ties to the biopharmaceutical and medical technology industries.
Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.
© 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Posted March 2025
Read this next
Nearly Half With Early-Stage Breast Cancer Extend Endocrine Therapy Beyond Five Years
FRIDAY, June 20, 2025 -- Nearly 40 percent of women with stage I breast cancer and two-thirds with stage II decide to extend endocrine therapy, according to a study published...
Odds of Advanced Cancer, Breast Cancer Death Lower in Screen-Detected Disease
THURSDAY, June 5, 2025 -- For patients aged 40 years or older, screen-detected breast cancer is associated with lower odds of advanced cancer, mastectomy, and breast...
Nodal Irradiation Does Not Reduce Recurrence, Death for ypN0 Breast Cancer
THURSDAY, June 5, 2025 -- For patients with node-positive breast cancer who become pathologically tumor-free with negative axillary nodes (ypN0) after neoadjuvant chemotherapy...
More news resources
- FDA Medwatch Drug Alerts
- Daily MedNews
- News for Health Professionals
- New Drug Approvals
- New Drug Applications
- Drug Shortages
- Clinical Trial Results
- Generic Drug Approvals
Subscribe to our newsletter
Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.